
Gass C &f 1 

Book ■ V 



0k 

■ g 



7°7 



/ 



'■1*0 



) 




Q 
Z 

< 

o 
z 

w 



Z 

O 

Q 

z 

o 

at 
< 

» 

w 



< 
X 



o 

OS 
w 

S 
o 

cu 

>■ 

oi 

I* 
w 

D3 

Is. 
C 

w 

(- 

< 






pnm^rng 




3Jtt £tormatt&y mib England 









PR:SS 0- 






THE FRANKLIN PAINTING £ ENSLAVING CO 


TOLEDO. 


OHIO 


















(Enntetttfi 



Introduction 5 

Eltweed the Common Ancestor of the American Pomeroys 9 

Romance and History 10 

Old Traditions Verified 14 

English Parish Church Records 16 

The Key to the Genealogical Problem 18 

Antiquity of the House of Pomeroy 20 

Various Pomeroy Coats-of-Arms 21 

Key to Abbreviations in Heraldry (Foot note) 22 

Pedigree of the Oldest Sons of the Pomeroy Family. 

(From Prince's ''Worthies of Devon," 23 

Notes Concerning the Above Pedigree 24 

Pedigree of Eltweed Pomeroy, 

(From Duchess of Cleveland's "Battle Abbey Roll," 

and other authorities.) 26 

Notes Relative to Eltweed's Pedigree 29 

Calendar of the English Kings (Foot note) 29 

Ancient Political Honors ("Fuller's Worthies.") 32 

The Pomeroy Ancestors were Norsemen of Norway $2 

Ancient Demesne of Alricus the Saxon 33 

Ancient and Distinctive Name in Normandy and England. . 34 
Comments by the Late Chester Pomeroy Dewey 35 

Names and Location of Various Pomeroy Manors and 
Castles. 

Berry Pomeroy Castle $7 

Guard Room and Chapel in the Tower 41 

Berry Pomeroy Church 42 

St. Michael's Mount 44 

Tragoney Castle in Cornwall 47 

Engsden, Good a' Meary, East Ogwell, Up-Otterly, 
Dunwinesdon, Winch, Branwendine, Pudeford, 
Toriland, Horewood , Helicon, Tale, Beaver. 
Nether Storey, Oare, Stockleigh, Branhinch, etc 48 

Sanderidge, Devon 49 

Tremerton Castle in Cornwall 49 

The Barons of Valletort 50 



Alverton, Penzance 51 

Mocollop Castle, County Waterford, Ireland 51 

The Insurrection in Devonshire 53 

The Last Siege of Berry Pomeroy Castle 55 

Occupation of Pomeroy Castle by the Seymours 56 

Fruitless Attempt of the Seymours to Rebuild the Great 

Castle 57 

Beatrice of Nether Stowey 58 

Extent of the Pomeroy Estates in Devonshire 59 

Some Connections with Royalty 60 

Interesting Extracts from English Authorities 60 

Authentic Notes and Queries 64 

Fragmentary Quotations 66 

The Harburton Branch in Ireland 69 

At Westminster Abbey 70 

Domesday Survey 7 1 

The Time Honored Name of Pomeroy 72 

Some Legal Documents, 

Bills of Complaint 72 

Partial Epitome of Vicarages 76 

Rolfe the Warrior and Eltweed the Gunsmith 76 

Eltweed Pomeroy the Puritan Emigrant 78 

A Proprietor and First Selectman of Dorchester 80 



SUuBtratums 

Castle of Berry Pomeroy Frontispiece 

Photograph of Marriage Record of Eltweed Pomeroy. . 

. . Face p. 16 
North and East Views of Berry Pomeroy Castle.. Face p. 37 

Berry Pomeroy Church Face p. 42 

Stronghold of Saint Michael's Mount, Cornwall. ..Face p. 46 



3totr0iMrtt0tt 



'•rHIS preliminary pamphlet has been prepared with a 
1JL view of attracting the attention and interest of every 
individual of the Pomeroy race in America, and of every 
family in collateral lines, to the importance of forwarding to 
the Secretary of the Association all data in their possession 
concerning the more recent developments in each family, and 
the missing fragments of earlier statistics, already sent in. 

Also, for the purpose of informing all those who are 
interested of the recent discoveries in Romance and History 
which have resulted from continued explorations among the 
records and registers in England. 

There is now no hesitation in asserting that our American 
emigrant, Eltweed Pomeroy, of 1630, reached his century 
through the channel of a long line of noted warriors and 
statesmen, of whom Sir Ralph de Pomeroy, of Normandy, 
was the progenitor. While the line of descent given in this 
little book has been verified to an abstract certainty, there 
still may remain that intangible doubt of absolute certainty 
Which is so imperative in family genealogy. This absolute 
proof, it is hoped, will be produced before we are prepared 
to go to press with the book of record of the Pomeroy Family. 

The line of descent given here is in each instance sup- 
ported by dates, not of birth and death, but of periods during 
which the individual is known to have lived, from the time 
Sir Ralph de Pommeraie and his brother Hugue were 
battling on the field of Hastings as companions with William, 
Duke of the Normans, to the time of the surrender of the old 
stronghold of Berry Pomeroy to the Lord Protector of 
England after the affiliation of Sir Thomas de Pomeroy with 
an insurgent army, which he led 20,000 strong and with which 
he beseiged Exeter in 1549. 

The name "Pomeroy," as Professor Phillimore has said, 
is a distinctive one, and has long been noted in England, 
mainly in the counties Devon and Cornwall, Dorset and 
Somerset, and to write the history of this family commensur- 
ate with its importance would require a large volume, for they 



seem to have maintained a leading position in Devonshire 
from the time of the Norman conquest, and sent numerous 
branches out, which have been projected into the twentieth 
century, covering a period of 900 years. 

While it is evident that some of the information con- 
tained in this pamphlet is familiar to many of the Pomeroy 
Family, it must be considered that there are thousands of the 
kinsmen who have no knowledge of any of it. It is, there- 
fore, suggested that the descendants of Eltweed should bear 
in mind that the family is now being represented in America 
by the 10th and nth and even the 12th generations, and that 
it is a colossal task to trace each individual without the 
necessary information from the head of each family. 

It should be understood that the Pomeroy Family Asso- 
ciation has constituted itself a bureau of exchange or reci- 
procity, and if heads of families will send in the vital statistics 
relative to their immediate families such data can be dissem- 
inated among other families by the process of genealogical 
history, which will represent the entire race of busy men and 
women, with their diversified interests. 

In order to encourage all of those who are descendants 
of Eltweed Pomeroy to adopt this action universally, the 
present Secretary considers it proper to state here that 
he has received through the courtesy of Mrs. Anna Grosvenor 
(Pomeroy) Rodman, all of the Pomeroy records of her hus- 
band, the late Dr. W. W. Rodman, a collection covering a 
period of forty years ; also the data collected by the late 
Mrs. Rebekah (Pomeroy) Bulkley ; the collection of Mr. 
Sardis Pomeroy Chapman ; that of Judge George Pomeroy 
Cobb ; and that of S. Harris Pomeroy, Esq., the latter covering 
a period of fifteen years ; also that of Chester Pomeroy Dewey 
and Eltweed Pomeroy. 

This enormous collection of vital statistics is quite 
sufficient to justify the Executive Committee to declare that 
with ordinary interest and application and co-operation dis- 
played by the family, the Pomeroy Family Book may be 
ready for publication in the course of two or three years, or 
as soon as the loose ends of the last generations can be 
assimilated. 

But the Association is positively in need of the recent 
data, assistance from each head of family in verifying that 
which we have, and sufficient financial aid to carry out the 



VI 



plans which have been formulated, and which are clearly set 
forth in the new Constitution which was mailed to you 
recently. 

There is usually some one to be found in every family 
who takes more than ordinary interest in genealogical lore. 
If such one would take upon himself or herself the task of 
forwarding to the Secretary their compilations up to date, 
it would aid very materially in the solution of many of the 
elusive problems and the accommodation of many of the loose 
ends of an unfinished mosaic. 

The nominal price ($1.00) asked for this pamphlet is not 
to refund the cost, but to create a fund to be used in obtain- 
ing absolute verification of «ach proposition advanced and 
every lineage outlined, in order that the Pomeroy Family 
Book may be produced as free from errors as a book on 
Genealogy can well be made. Therefore, the $1.00 you 
forward for this pamphlet will be considered as so much 
financial assistance toward a mutually desirable end, and all 
checks for larger amounts will be highly appreciated. 

It is proper to state here that the publication of this 
pamphlet is one of the results of the generosity and interest 
in the family history of S. Harris Pomeroy, Esq., of New 
Rochelle, New York. 

ALBERT A. POMEROY, 

Secretary of the Pomeroy Family Association. 
Sandusky, Ohio, March 3, 1909. 



VII 



American Itomrrngs 



It is generally understood that Eltweed Pomeroy is the 
common ancestor of all of the Pomeroys in America, with 
the exception of Thomas Pomeroy (Pumroy), who came 
over in 1730, one hundred years after the advent of Eltweed, 
and settled in Lurgan township, near Roxbury, Pa., Whose 
first known ancestor is said to have been a Huguenot, and 
teacher of languages in Paris in 1572. He escaped into 
Ireland on the eve of the massacre of St. Bartholomew. Also, 
a single family who settled in Virginia; and two or three 
individuals who appeared in the country more recently from 
England. However, it is a logical presumption that all have 
descended from the Norman Knight, Sir Ralph, or from his 
brother, Hugue Pommeraie, as the name is spelled in the 
more ancient documents. 

Bardsley, in "English Surnames," says that Normandy 
first established hereditary surnames in England. "The close 
of the eleventh century, we may safely say, saw as yet but 
one class of soubriquets, which, together with their other 
property, fathers were in the habit of handing down to their 
children." 

The derivation of the name "Pomeroy" is not from the 
"Royal Apple," or "Fruit of the King," as has been so 
uniformly believed by the Americans who bear it, but from 
the parish of St. Sauveur (Saint Savior) de la Pommeraye, 
in the department of La Manche, Normandy. Lower, in his 
'"'Dictionary of Family Names of the United Kingdom," says: 
"This Paris'h (De la Pommeraye) gave name to a great 
family, mentioned in Domesday Book, and by Brompton, and 
they in turn conferred it upon Berry Pomeroy, county Devon, 
England." 

It would doubtless be interesting to the readers of this 
pamphlet to note the scores of authorities given for the differ- 
ent methods of spelling this time-honored name, and the 
facility with which the vowels are changed about, but, how- 
ever densely it is disguised, it will always be recognized. The 



10 ROMANCE AND HISTORY OF 



transition from the original "Pammeraye" is now generally 
accepted by all authorities, as Webster has printed it in his 
dictionary, "Pomeroy," and may "virtue and courage be the 
companions of all who bear it." 



It has always been the object of writers to invite 
Romance to the aid of History in the effort to extract in brief 
but authentic chronicles the germ from the dry storehouse 
of the archeologist. It is with absolute confidence that the 
writer believes the interest of the race in the time-honored 
name, and in the good fame of their progenitors of the 
eleventh and twelfth centuries, will prompt them to receive 
this first compilation with good will when it is laid before 
them. 

As Sismondi has said, "The eleventh century has a right 
to be considered a great age. It is a period of life and of 
creation. All that was noble, heroic and vigorous in the 
middle ages commenced at this epoch." To our own progeni- 
tors, beside the more animated interest in the spirit of adven- 
ture induced by the enterprise of the Norman Conquest, we owe 
the respect of posterity, although there is a deep and pathetic 
regret in the disappearance of the Saxon monarchy. 

Although Freeman, in his "History of the Norman Con- 
quest," has said that the "Nobility of Normandy in the time 
of William was the most turbulent and aggressive in Europe," 
those war-sons of the Old North were a magnificent race 
of men. While their invasion of England plunged an entire 
population into the horrors of war, they reproduced the 
noblest elements of civilization. They had great energy, and 
a firm determination to secure and maintain individual civil 
and religious liberty. At times the Knights of the Pomeroy 
race made some splendid errors in their strife for fame and 
fortune. However, those mistakes consisted mainly in their 
efforts to improve the condition of their retainers. It was 
for this reason that they were so frequently found in arms 
against the constituted authority ; or in rebellion against 
undesirable political or religious conditions. 

But if there were no cause for personal dissatisfaction 



ELTWEED POMEROY'S ANCESTORS 11 



they were always to be found fighting by the side of their 
king when he was at war with a foreign enemy. Dr. W. W. 
Rodman has well shown in his ''Study in Heredity" how the 
years of discipline on that charming coast of Devonshire 
modified those strenuous ancestors of ours into Stalwart 
Souls. 

"The state has no material resources at all comparable with 
its citizens, and no hope of perpetuity except in the intelligence and 
integrity of its people." — Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio. 

The Family is even a closer bond than the State, and 
has no material resources at all commensurate to the integ- 
rity, courage and endurance of its men ; and no hope of 
perpetuity except in the maternity and intelligence of its 
women. 

It has been said in English works on history that the 
Barons of the House of Pomeroy were exceedingly happy in 
the alliances they contracted by marriage. But in the present 
day and age the Pomeroy men and women have been equally 
fortunate, as we find among the kindred of all degrees of 
relationship the most ancient and honored names in America, 
and it is quite evident that the women of the race have 
reflected as much glory upon the name through their mar- 
riages, and through their sons and grandsons, as have the 
men. While the men have the prestige of providing the 
first Brigadier-General of the regular army, in the person 
of General Seth Pomeroy, ever commissioned by the Conti- 
nental Congress, and other important civil and military 
officers, the women have added honors to the name by 
alliances with scores of civil and military officers of distinc- 
tion, such as Generals Pope, Bartlett, Dodge, Force, Tall- 
madge, Vinton and innumerable ministers, lawyers, authors. 
inventors, artisans, tutors, farmers and statesmen, and among 
the latter may be mentioned the Hon. Elihu Root, the 
present Secretary of State. All of these honors reflect a pretty 
good class of American nobility, which is that of the mind, 
and is usually merited. 

However democratic a man may be, he is usually vulner- 
able in the matter of wholesome ancestral pride. He is not 
only glad that he is of a family that has every reason to be 
proud of its record but he is resolved to live up to the stand- 



12 ROMANCE AND HISTORY OF 



ards it has established. The people who inhabited New 
England from the time of the landing of the Mayflower to the 
Declaration of Independence were a remarkable race. Todav 
their names are found in every state of the Union ; and their 
personal characteristics of mind and body are in evidence. 
Their influence has been felt in the formation and develop- 
ment of the government, and the institutions of the nation 
and of every state ; practically they have made the national 
character of which we used to be so proud and which late 
immigration of a different nature has not yet wholly 
obliterated. 

An ancestry reaching to that Colonial period is a heritage 
of wholesome and just pride to any American, and should 
be an incentive to all to cultivate and encourage the growth 
of those mental and physical characteristics of endurance 
which have prompted and enabled men and women of that 
period to accomplish so much good. Children should be 
taught to perpetuate those characteristics by their own proper 
physical, mental and moral development, and by judicious 
marriages. 

It is not clearly understood that any member of the 
Pomeroy family was ever ennobled by a king after the time of 
Henry III. (1257), except Arthur of Harburton, but the prefix 
of "de" to a name signifies such nobility ; aside from this we 
have not yet produced testimony unless it may be inferred 
from Pomeroy (chequy). whose crest was a lion head crowned 
with a ducal coronet ; or Pomeroy (St. Columb, counties 
Cornwall and Devon), whose crest was out of a ducal 
crescent, or a lion head guarded. It 'has not been learned 
that any title was borne by the long line of Knights (Barons) 
of Berry Pomeroy, which descended from generation to gen- 
eration even while they held the old Castle, from 1067 to 1549. 
Doubtless the family during this period contained many 
Knights, and perhaps many of the readers are in accord with 
the assertion that it is not so much the nobility of rank we 
have searched for as the antiquity and honor of the name. 
The title of Viscount now borne by one branch of the Pom- 
eroys in Ireland dates only to 1791, and that was merited, but 



ELTWEED POMEROY'S ANCESTORS 13 



as an Irish peerage it does not imply an estate in Ireland, the 
name Harburton being taken from an English village in 
Devonshire, which was part of the old manorial estate. 

Neither has it been made clear that the family name is 
derived from the fruit, but from the town or village of Pom- 
meraie in Normandy, when it was bestowed upon the founder 
of the race, Raoule (the French Ralph, pronounced in Eng- 
land, Rolfe), or his father or grandfather, although it is 
believed that he was the first to bear the name. Ralph came 
from that place, Which was probably named from the orchards 
in which those luscious apples grew, and for which the apple 
orchards of Normandy are noted. In fact, at the date of the 
Norman conquest surnames were either not in use or were 
just beginning to be used, i. e., surnames descending from 
father to son. 

It will be remarked that this booklet consists of a com- 
pilation of interesting extracts from English and French 
historical authorities concerning the influence and importance 
of the race in England in the early days of the House of Nor- 
mandy and that of the Plantagenets, and the remarkable 
projection of vitality and endurance, observable in the Pom- 
eroy men and women of the present day, through past 
centuries. Close study of the characteristics and physique of 
those of the name, both of the Pennsylvania settlers, whose 
emigrant was Thomas Pomeroy, and those of New England, 
prompts the assumption that all are of the same lineage, as 
none can be traced to any progenitor except the Norman 
warrior, Ralph, and that all are of kindred well defined. 

The apparent reproduction of extracts occurring in these 
miscellaneous paragraphs will be found credited to different 
authorities. This is done for the purpose of verification, in 
order that greater confidence may be established in the minds 
of the readers as to the authenticity of each extract, or to 
denote the confusion of history as it relates to the private 
individual. 



14 ROMANCE AND HISTORY OF 



(§lb ©rabitums Bmfefc 

The tradition has been handed down from father to son 
that Eltweed Pomeroy, our first ancestor in America, was a 
descendant of Sir Ralph de Pommeraie, chief-of-staff of 
William the Conqueror, and that in the division of the Saxon 
lands in England to the companions of the Norman Duke, 
Sir Ralph received as 'his portion large estates in Devonshire 
and Somerset. It is now known that his sons acquired large 
holdings in Cornwall and Dorset. 

However, up to the present time the family has been 
unable to discover tangible verification of these traditions 
through the mists of time. In fact the English home of Elt- 
weed was not discovered until 1904; neither was his father's 
name known until 1907. During that year the father's name 
and place of residence were found, as well as the date that 
Eltweed and his brothers were christened. 

The letters included in this report of the Secretary to the 
many individual families of Pomeroy in America will define 
the sources from Which these two important additions to the 
genealogical history have become known ; and the gratifying- 
results of further explorations among the English Church and 
State Registers and Records in the discovery of Richard's 
father and grandfather, which makes the connection complete 
with Sir Richard de Pomeroy, the 15th generation from Sir 
Ralph, temp. Henry VII., 1474-1531, and who was the head 
of the house of Pomeroy at that time and Avho occupied 
Berry Pomeroy Castle. Records verifying this assertion 
have been found at Somerset House and at the British 
Museum. 

This Sir Richard de Pomeroy was great-great-grandson 
of the Chevalier Thomas Pomeroy of Dorset, who married 
his cousin Joan Chidleigh-St. Aubin-Brian. She was grand- 
daughter of Sir John de Pomeroy of the nth generation, 
and he was son of Robert Pomeroy, Chevalier. Sir Philip 
Brian, her second husband, was also of Dorset. 

In relation to his descent from this line of warriors and 
lords of manors there is no degeneracy in the fact that Eltweed 
Pomeroy Avas a gunsmith with a good reputation, or a black- 
smith, if you please. 



ELTWEED POMEROY'S ANCESTORS 15 



Quoting from an article in the American (Whig) 
Review, of New York, 1848, from the pen of the Hon. N. S. 
Dodge : 

"This Eltweed Pomeroy is represented to have been a 
man of good family, tracing 'his pedigree back to Sir Ralph 
de Pomeroy, who accompanied William of Normandy into 
England. Like most of the Dissenters of that 

age Eltweed was a mechanic, having for many years carried 
on the business of making guns to a large extent and with 
much reputation. Upon sailing for America, he closed his 
business, and selling most of his stock in trade, brought with 
him only his tools. After a residence of several years in 
Dorcester, the province of Massachusetts Bay offered him 
a grant of 1,000 acres of land on the Connecticut river on the 
condition of his establishing his business as a gunsmith 
within the bounds of the province. He did so; and it is a 
curious fact that, among seven generations which succeeded 
him, there has been lacking at no time in the direct male 
branch of descent, a follower of the original trade. The only 
article of the tools, of the old progenitor of the family, which 
he brought from England, known to be still in existence, is 
the original anvil, now in the possession of Lemuel Pomeroy, 
Esq.,* of Pittsfield, who was for more than thirty years a 
large contractor with the United States government for arms." 

Working in iron, fashioning implements of war, was per- 
haps inherent with Eltweed Pomeroy. In the early days of 
the Northmen the princes and other nobles of Norway were 
workers in iron. They made their own arms and armor, 
battle axes, spears, lances and other implements of war, 
and the Norman warriors of much later period continued 
the art or practice. Many Norman youths of generations 
not long in the past were bound apprentices as armorers in 
the guilds of England. These facts doubtless have some 
bearing on the facility with which our ancestors in America 
took so readily and spontaneously to the occupation of mak- 
ing arms of offense and defense, swords, guns, pikes and the 
lances (which the matross carried) during the Revolutionary 
war. 



*Now (Jan. 5, 1909) in possession of Mrs. Edward Pomeroy, 
Tittsfield, Mass. 



16 ROMANCE AND HISTORY OF 



Jparisl? (Elmrrfj Sirrords 

It has been said by one of the leading analists of 
genealogy in this country, the editor of the Genealogical 
Department of the Hartford Times, that it is desirable to 
go into the old country a generation or two for antecedents. 

Since the publication of "Eltweed and Four Generations 
of His Descendants," by Mrs. Henry Thorp Bulkley, much 
verified information has been collected concerning Eltweed 
Pomeroy and his surroundings in England. The following 
documents will be received with interest by his descendants: 

(Copy of a letter from Rev. A. A. Leonard, Vicar of 
Beaminster (Dorset), England, to Henry B. Pomeroy, 
Cortland, N. Y.) : 

Beaminster Vicarage, Dorset, England, 

January 31, 1907. 
"My dear Sir: — You will remember my giving you, about 
a year ago, the date of the baptism of Eltweed Pomeroy, 
son of Richard Pomeroy. You then asked me to let you 
know if I happened to come across any other entries relating 
to your family. I have now copied the Diocesan Transcripts 
to the end of 1624. I find the baptism of two other Pomeroys, 
probably younger brothers of Eltweed, thus : 

"Edward Pomeroy, bapt. 4 March, 1591. 
"Henry Pomeroy, bapt. 5 Aug., 1593. 
"Edward died before he was two years old and was 
buried, 19th July, 1592. 

"Another day I may come across Henry again. 

;jc ;jc ;jc ;}c ;fi .,- -^ 

"You have the record of Eltweed 's marriage with 
Margery Rockett, Crewkerne, 7 May, 1627, but you may 
not be aware that Eltweed had previously married at 
Beaminster, Joan Keech, 4 May, 1617. Two daughters were 
born to them, Dinah and Elizabeth. I can find no sons. 
Elizabeth died less than two years after her birth. Joan, the 
wife of Eltweed, was buried, 27 Nov., 1^20. when her 
daughter Elizabeth was just a year old. So when Eltweed 
married Margery Rockett he had been a widower nearly 
seven years, unless there was another marriage between. 

"I have now copied 1585 to 1684, inclusive, but unfortun- 




Q 
Z 
< 

- 

z 



aj 

C/3 



I 

u 

aS 

EC 

u 

I 

■r. 



Z 

as 

u 



OS 



< 

as 
< 



I 
h 



< 
as 
O 
p 

O 

X 

a. 



ELTWEED POMEROY'S ANCESTORS 17 

ately in this period twelve years are missing, so my record 
is not complete. I am glad to be able to give you the above 
notes and hope they may be of some interest to you. 

"If you are ever in the old country again and near 
enough I hope you will come and see me. 

Yours faithfully, 
"H. B. Pomeroy, Esq. A. A. Leonard, Vicar." 

* * * 

(From Beaminster Church Records:) 

Richard Pomeroy, county Dorset, England. 
Children: 

i. Eltweed Pomeroy, christened July 4, 1585. 
(Note by A. A. Leonard, Vicar: "This is the first entry 
in the Register.") 

2. Edward Pomeroy, baptised March, 1591. Buried 
at Beaminster, July 19, 1592. 

3. Henry Pomeroy, baptised August, 1593. 

* * * 

(From Beaminster Church Records:) 

"Married at Beaminster, May 4, 1617, Eltweed Pomeroy, 
son of Richard, to Joan Keech. 
Children: 

1. Dinah. 

2. Elizabeth, who died less than two years after 
her birth. 

* * * 

"Joan, wife of Eltweed Pomeroy, buried at Berminster, 
Nov. 27, 1620, when her daughter Elizabeth was just one 
year old. A. A. Leonard, Vicar." 

* * * 

(From the Crewkerne Parish Church Register:) 

"Anno Dom. 
"1627 

"Mar. Eltweed Pomeroy of Berminster and Margery 
Rockett were married ye 7 daye of May." 
"The above is a true copy of the marriage register of 
Crewkerne Parish Church, the said register being legally 



18 ROMANCE AND HISTORY OF 



in my custody. Extracted this sixteenth day of August in the 
year of our Lord, one thousand nine hundred and four, by me. 

Herbert C. Gaye, Vicar of Crewkerne." 



SJje 2Crg tfl tlj? Jfroblrm 

(London (England) letter from Henry B. Pomeroy, 
Esq., of Cortland, N. Y., to George Eltweed Pomeroy, Toledo, 
Ohio:) 

First I secured a readers' ticket to 
the British Museum and have spent much time there with 
the pedigree of the Pomeroys. 

'The Visitations of the County of Devon,' by J. L. 
Vivian, an accepted authority by the British Museum, con- 
tains five large and closely printed pages of the names of 
Pomeroys who have lived in Devon, Dorset, Cornwall ; also 
had a letter of introduction from the American Ambassador 
to Sir John Barnes, of the Somerset House, and have spent 
some time there. It was there that I discovered a legal 
paper of some kind from Henry Pomeroy to his son Richard. 
This letter or paper is written in Latin. This Henry* 
Pomeroy's father was also Richard and 'he was living in 
1531. In 1559 this Henry left this document to his son 
Richard*. This is the date when Richard, father of Eltweed 
and Henry, was living; and from material evidence I am 
inclined to think that this Richard is the father of Eltweed 
and Henry. * * * * 

"I have just come from the British Museum, and accord- 
ing to Vivian, Henry Pomeroy lived at this time and the 
document at the Somerset Llouse agrees with his assertion. 
As he lived at the time and was of the same age as our 
Richard, and was connected with Dorset where we know 
Eltweed's father lived after marriage, makes me think that he 
is the Richard we are interested in. 

"This Latin document was filed at the Somerset House 
m I 573 or T 578. the last figure being somewhat indistinct, 
which would seem to imply that Henry, Richard's father, 

*It is suggested that the Committee on English Investigation 
learn the birth and death dates of this Henry and Richard; also, 
verify the names of their wives and the dates of marriage. 



ELTWEED POMEROY'S ANCESTORS 19 

died about that time. * * * A gentleman 

informed me that a search of the records in and about Dorset, 
Wells, Bristol, Taunton, Exeter and Blanford would be likely 
to throw more light on the subject than the wills at the 
Somerset House, as the older wills are kept at those places. 
He was at the American Embassy and seemed to be intimate 
with the English system of record." 

(Translation of the Latin Document referred to by Mr. 
Henry B. Pomeroy :) 

"Henry Pomeroy. 

"On the 5th day of July, , letters of administration 

of the estate of Henry Pomeroy, late of Totnes, in the county 
of Devon, deceased, were granted to Richard Pomeroy, 
natural and lawful son of the deceased, who was sworn to 
administer truly ; and the letters of administration surrep- 
titiously obtained by one Richard* Pomeroy, now or lately 
of Totnes, aforesaid, by hiding the truth and stating false- 
hood in June, 1559, were recalled as appears from the records 
of the Courts." 

Although the analysis above presented by Mr. Henry 
B. Pomeroy of the interesting facts discovered by him in his 
study of the records at Somerset House, and in the British 
Museum, was made two years ago, and his belief in the 
probability of the lineage thus developed, there has not, until 
recently discovered, been evidence to corroborate the import- 
ance of his finding. But now that analysis is so positively in 
accord with the discoveries and conclusions recently made 
by the Secretary of the Association, which are comprised 
in the great volume of historical statistics in his possession, 
and of which this paper is only a partial epitome, that he has 
no hesitation in now announcing to the officers of the Associa- 
tion, and all of the descendants of Eltweed Pomeroy, that the 
problem of descent from the notable warrior and statesman, 
Sir Ralph de Pomimeraie, has finally been solved. 

While more minute details in support of this assertion 
are desirable, the belief is now firmly established that the 
pedigree outlined in this report is the correct one and that it 

*It is not likely that this fraudulent Richard was father of 
Eltweed as he was, evidently, of unimpeachable character later, 
although young at this time. 



20 ROMANCE AND HISTORY OF 



will be resolved into absolute certainty, so essential in matters 
of genealogy by further proof, which will result from still 
further exploration by the committee on the English 
investigation. 

It is gratifying to be enabled to state that the traditions 
which have for nearly 300 years been part of the Pomeroy 
history in America, are in accord with these facts and that 
they have now been verified. These sagas will henceforth 
be resolved into family history instead of family tradition. 
It is hoped that this pamphlet, with the information it con- 
tains, will eventually find the way into the family of every 
Pomeroy in America, and that the interest of each will be 
quickened so that we may go forward at once and complete 
the "Pomeroy Family Book," which has for so many years 
been on the "trestle board." 



uJlj? Antiqmtg of tljp ijmtfl? of pomrrog 

(From Burke's English Peerage and Baronetcy.) 

The family of Pomeroy is one of great antiquity, founded 
by Sir Rolf de Pomeroy previous to 1050, and established 
in England in 1066, after the battle of Hastings, and the 
defeat of Harold the last of the Saxon Kings. Sir Rolf and 
his descendants possessed large holdings in lands in Devon 
and Somerset in 1097, during the reign of Henry L, the Wise 
Beauclerk, the third son of William the Conqueror. The seat 
of the head of the family was at Engsden, near Harburton, 
county Devon, now known as Berry Pomeroy. A descendant 
of this house, in the person of Arthur Pomeroy, M.A., 
University of Cambridge, was on July 5, 1791, created 
Viscount Harburton. The coat of arms of some of the 
ancient branches in England of the House of Pomeroy iiu 
to the reign of Edward VI., are described here : 

Pomerei (Berrie Pomerae), county Devon, temp. Henry 
I, or a lion ramp, guarded, gu, armed and langued: az within 
a bordeur se, indented sa. 

Pomeroy (Viscount Harburton), or a lion ramp, guarded, 
holding in the dexter paw an apple : ppr. within a bordeur sa. 



ELTWEED POMEROY'S ANCESTORS 21 



Crest, a lion ramp, guarded, holding an apple in the arms: 
supported by two wolves, the dexter ppr. sinister, sa. both 
guarded and chained : or. 

Pomeroy, Chalfent (St. Giles, county Bucks), or a lion 
ramp. sa. within a bordeur, indented, guarded. Crest, a fir 
cone vert, charged with a bez. 

Pomeroy (Berry Pomeroy, county Devon), or a lion 
ramp, guarded, within a bordeur, partition sa. 

Pomeroy (Devonshire and Worcestershire), or a lion 
ramp, gu., within a bordeur, engr. sa. 

Pomeroy (Ireland), or a lion ramp, guarded, holding in 
the dexter paw an apple, within a bordeur, engr., sa. Crest, 
a lion ramp, gu., holding an apple as in the arms. 

Pomeroy (Chequy), gu. and or on a chev., sa. three amul. 
or. Crest, a lion head erased, charged with four bez., crowned 
with a ducal coronet : ppr. 

Pomeroy (St. Columb, counties Cornwall and Devon), or 
a lion ramp, within a bordeur eng. gu., crescent for dif. Crest 
out of a ducal crescent, or a lion's head guarded, gu. 

Pomeroy (Weguy, county Cornwall), or a lion ramp., gu. 
within a bordeur engr. sa. Crest, a lion segant, gu., holding 
in dexter paw an apple, or. 

Pomeroy, or a lion ramp., gu. within a bordeur, engr. sa. 



(Eoats of Arms 

The sole value or interest of our American coats of arms 
consists in the remembrance or traditions of an honorable 
ancestry. Coats of arms were frequently used in New Eng- 
land during the Colonial period, and it is more than probable 
that they were used in the rest of the original thirteen colonies. 
These arms are worthy of preservation since they are valuable 
evidence for the genealogist. At the date when they were used 
the English rules were in force here. The time since the 
settlement of the country was not so long as to forbid the 
acceptance of tradition as evidence, we may believe that 
those who displayed armorial insignia had good grounds for 
their adoption. 
(From Westminster Review, vol. 60, p. 45:) 

"The glory of ancestors," it has been observed, "casts a 



22 ROMANCE AND HISTORY OF 



light indeed upon their posterity, but it only seems to show 
what the descendants are. It alike exhibits to full view any 
degeneracy and any worth. 

"It is therefore a most desirable custom to preserve the 
memory of a line of ancestry, tracing, perhaps, back to the 
old feudal times ; for if any one feels a pride in the reflection 
that he is descended from ancient worthies, it may prove some 
incentive to him to maintain the credit of the name, and to 
achieve a reputation deserving of it. 

"Besides, there is a moral to be learned in looking over 
genealogies ; for though, perhaps to many, nothing seems at 
first sight less interesting than a genealogical table, a mere 
register of dates and names. Yet, as I once read in an 
American publication, each of those names in the table is a 
memorial, perhaps the only memorial of a human heart that 
once lived and loved — a heart that has kept its pulsations 
through some certain periods of time and then ceased to 
beat and mouldered into dust. Each of those names is the 
memorial of an individual human life that had its joys and 
sorrows, its cares and its burdens, its affections and hopes, 
its conflicts and achievements, its opportunities wasted or 
improved, and its hour of death. 

Ijrralhtr Keg 

Az — Blue. 

Bordeur — Mark of difference to distinguish one branch of a 
family from another. 

Bez or Bezant — Flat pieces of gold without impress. 

Chequy — Divided. 

Charged — Bearing Device. 

Dexter — Right. 

Engr — Line of Partition. 

Erased — Severed from the body. 

Gu or Gules— Parallel lines on shield; red. 

Guarded — Both eyes and ears in view. 

Indented — Reversed — Changed in order. 

Or — Gold. 

Ppr — Party per — Divided into two equal parts. 

Rampant — Standing upright — Attacking. 

Langued — One ear in view. 

Sa — Black. 

Sal. or Sally — Posture of springing. 

Segant — Sitting. 

Sinister — Left. 

Vert — Green parallel lines sloping to the right downward. 



ELTWEED POMEROY'S ANCESTORS 23 



"To study a genealogy, then, may be to a thinking mind 
like walking in a cemetery and reading the inscriptions on 
the grave stones." 



{fefrgrrc of % If Das? cf Punterou, 

The Pomeroy Pedigree, as given by Sir William Poole, 
was adopted by John Prince, Vicar of Berry Pomeroy, in 
his "Worthies of Devon": 

1. Ralph de la Pomerai (or Pomorio), (1066). William I. 

2. Joel, married natural daughter of Henry I. 
(Nicholas' "Peerage" has this name William de 
Pomerai, as has the Duchess of Cleveland in her 
"Battle Abbey Roll," living in 1102. This daughter 
of King Henry I., by common law marriage, was 
sister of Reginald, Duke of Cornwall. Had issue. 
Henry, living in 1102, and Joscelin. Others give this 
successor as William instead of Joel, but with the 
same marriage.) 

3. Henry, mar. Matilda de Vitrei ; he died 1208. Henry II. 

4. Henry, mar. Alice de Vere ; died 1222. John. 

5. Henry, mar. Margaret (or Margery) de Vernon ; died 
1237. Henry III. 

6. Henry, mar. Joan de Valletort ; died 1281. Henry III. 

7. Henry, mar. Amicia de Camoil ; died 1305; aet. 40. 
Edward II. 

8. Henry, mar. Joan de Moels (Mules or Molle). Ed- 
ward II. He had five or six sons, and was succeeded 
by 

(There seems to be a generation omitted here in 
this pedigree.) 

9. Henry, mar. (no name given). Had issue: Sir John; 
Joan, who mar. Sir James Chidleigh ; and Margaret, 
who mar. Adam Cole. Henry VI. 

10. John, mar. Joan, daughter and co-heir of Sir Richard 
Merton, of Merton, widow of Sir John Bampfield, 
and died without issue. 

(Joan Chidleigh, sister of Sir John, had issue, Joan, 
who mar. (1) Sir John St. Aubin, and had issue, 
John ; mar. (2) Sir Philip Brian of Dorset ; (3) Sir 



24 ROMANCE AND HISTORY OF 



Thomas Pomeroy of Sandridge, Kt., son of Robert 
Pomeroy, unto whom and his heirs Sir John Pomerei 
conveyed Beri. This Robert was sixth son of Henry, 
above numbered 9. Temp. Henry VI. The line 
proceeds as follows :) 

10. Joan, mar. Sir James Chidleigh. Her daughter — 

11. Joan, mar. (3) Sir Thomas Pomeroy, and had — 

12. Edward de Pomeroy, who mar. Margaret, daughter 
and heir of Peter Beavil and Margaret his wife, who 
was daughter and heir of Richard Colaton. He had 
three sons, and was succeeded by — 

13. Henry, who mar. Alice Raleigh, daughter of Walter 
of Fardell, and had issue, Richard and Thomas. The 
latter was made Knight of the Bath at the coronation 
of the Queen of Henry VII. (1468). This Henry 
mar. (2) Amy Camel. 

14. Sir Richard, mar. Elizabeth, daughter and heir of 
Richard Denzel of Filley, in Devon. 

15. Sir Edward, mar. Jane, daughter of Sir John Sapcote. 
Sir Edward was made Knight of the Bath when 
Prince Henry, afterward Henry VIII., was made 
Prince of Wales, which was in 1502, after the death 
of his (Henry's) elder brother. 

16. Sir Thomas, mar. Jane, daughter of Sir Pierce Edge- 
combe. They had issue — 

17. Thomas, mar. the daughter of Henry Rolle of 
Stephenston, and had — 

18. Valentyne, who mar. (1) a daughter of Sir Thomas 
Reynel of East Ogwell, and had a daughter ; he mar. 
(2) Margaret, daughter of John Whiddon of Chang- 
ford, Kent. They left issue — 

19. Roger, who is still (1701) flourishing there (in Sand- 
ridge), having been Justice of the Peace, Deputy 
Lieutenant and a Member of Parliament. He mar. 
Joan, dau. of Elias Wills of Saltash, Cornwall. 

Notes (£tmtttnm$ iljr Abofo jfroujm 

(From llayden's "Book of Dignities":) 

"The Pomeroy Barons end with Henry de Pomeroy, in 
Edward I., when they ceased to be ranked as Peers of the. 



ELTWEED POMEROY'S ANCESTORS 25 



realm, until 1783, when Arthur Pomeroy, the heir male of 
this Henry, was created Baron Harburton in Ireland." 

In Nicholas' "History of the Peerage of England," after 
Sir Ralph, is the following: * * * "Held diverse 
lordships in the survey general, principally in Devonshire, 
whereof Berry Pomeroy was the head of his Barony." 

Valentyne, 18 in the above list, left a son Valentyne, by 
Margaret Whiddon, who married a daughter of Gilbert Hody. 
He also left a son, Gilbert Pomeroy, who was still "surviving 
at Sandridge, an honest, pious and charitable gentleman." 

It is not clear from Prince's book where the quotation 
from Sir William Pole ends. The words, "still flourishing," 
referring to Roger, 19, and still "surviving," referring to 
Valentyne in above note, doubtless are from Mr". Pole's 
record, as another account makes Roger a Member of Parlia- 
ment in 1601, and gives the marriage of Valentyne (18) to 
Margaret Whiddon in 1628, and to the daughter of Thomas 
Reynel in 1615. 

Henry Pomeroy (6 in the above list), in 1258, joined 
King Henry III. against the Welsh at Chester. He afterward 
revolted with Simon Montfort, Earl of Leicester (1258- 1264). 
Edward I. summoned him to service against Llewellyn, 
Prince of Wales, and he acknowledged service in one Knight's 
fee in Berry Pomeroy, in 1281. 

Henry Pomeroy (7 in the above list) served in Wales 
as a lad when 16 years old, and was married when his father 
died. When he came of age he was released from the 
scutage of Wales by Edward I. None of this Henry's 
descendants were ever called to Parliament and they ceased 
to be "ranked with the Peers of the Realm." (The scutage 
was a species of tax or tribute levied against lords of manors 
for the prosecution of war.) 

"The last of the quality of Peer of this family in Parlia- 
ment," says Prince's "Worthies of Devon," (p. 646), "war. 
Henry de Pomeroy, who in the 41st year of Henry III. (1257), 
doing his homage, had livery of 38 fees in Biry and Harburton, 
etc., all of which he held in capite of the King by the service 
of barony." 

"In 1399 (12th of Edward III.) the then Knight de 
Pomeroy (Sir Henry, 9 in the above list) released to the 
eldest son of the King, the Duke of Cornwall, all of his 



26 ROMANCE AND HISTORY OF 



interest in his estate of Trematon (?), in Cornwall. An 
annuity of £40 was then granted by the King, which grant 
remains (1701 or 1801) in custody of Roger Pomeroy, Esq., 
the direct heir." — Ibid. 

The old Raleigh seat (see Henry, 13 in the above list) 
Fardel was near Cornwood, 8 m. N. of E. of Plymouth. Sir 
Walter was born 1552 at Hayes, Barton Farm, near Budleigh, 
5 m. S. W. of Sidmouth. 

Amy Camel is said to have been the second wife of King 
Henry IV., and that her crest, a camel, was set up at Berry 
Pomeroy Church. It was not there when Sir William Pole 
wrote. — Hume, vol. 2, p. 343. 

Of the sons of Sir Richard (14 in the above list) were 
John and Henry. The former had a son St. Cleer, known as 
St. Clere, in Dorset. 

Hayden's "Book of Dignities" says: "The Pomeroy 
Barons end with Henry de Pomeroy, Edward I. (1272), when 
they ceased to be ranked as Barons of England, until 1783, 
when Arthur Pomeroy, the heir male of this Henry was 
created Baron of Harburton in Ireland." 

(The student will find some inaccuracies in the above notes; 
he is referred to notes accompanying the pedigree of Eltweed 
Pomeroy. — A. A. P.) 



•prfctgr*? of iElttowd Pompro^ 



The dates given here do not represent in every case 
birth and death dates, but periods when the individual is 
known to have lived, most of them being by authority of the 
Calendar of the English Kings: 

1. 1035- 1080 — Sir Rolfe de Pomeroy of Normandy. 

At the battle of Hastings, October 14, 1066, the 
Norman conquest of England. (The name is printed 
Rodolphus de Pommereis in the index of the Domes- 
day Book.) 

2. 1080-1130 — Sir William de Pomeroy, married the 
sister of Reginald, Earl of Cornwall, natural daughter 
of King Henry I. 

In 1080 the whole of the manor of Alverton, 
Penzance, passed from the Earls of Cornwall to the 



ELTWEED POMEROY'S ANCESTORS 27 



Barons of Pomeroy. (Prince, who used Sir William 
Poole's mss. in his "Worthies of Devon," assigns 
this succession and marriage to Joel Pomeroy. There 
seems to be a generation omitted here; perhaps Joel?) 

3. 1 160-1208 — Sir Henry de Pomeroy, married Maude 
de Vitrie ; 9th of the reign of King John. 

4. 1208-1222 — Sir Henry de Pomeroy, married Alice de 
Vere. 

In the 17th year (1216) of King John, he joined the 
rebellion and his lands were confiscated ; next year 
he submitted and his estates were restored; he died 
in the 6th year (1222) of King Henry III. 

5. 1222-1237 — Sir Henry de Pomeroy, married Margaret 
de Vernon. 

He came of age in the 16th year (1232) of King 
Henry III. He died in the 21st year of the same 
reign, 25 years of age. 

6. 1237-1281 — Sir Henry de Pomeroy, married Joan de 
Villetort. 

In the 42d year of King Henry III. (1258), he joined 
the King against the Welsh at Chester, but was after- 
ward in rebellion with Simon Montfort, Earl of 
Leicester, in the 48th year (1264) of King Henry III. ; 
he was pardoned for this, but in the following year 
he was again in arms against his sovereign and his 
estates were confiscated. In the fifth year (1277) of 
King Edward I., he was summoned to service against 
Llewellyn, Prince of Wales, and acknowledged the 
summons by service of one Knight's fee in Berry 
Pomeroy. He died in 1281. 

7. 1281-1305 — Sir Henry de Pomeroy, married Amicia 
de Camville, daughter of Geoffrey, who became his 
guardian. He was married at the time of his father's 
death. 

In the 15th year (1287) of King Edward I., coming 
of age, he was released from the payment of the 
scutage of Wales, because as a minor of 16 he had 
been in service there. He died in 1305, aged 40, and 
had been four times in the King's service. 

8. T305-1338 — Sir Henry de Pomeroy, married unknown. 
None of his descendants ever being summoned to 



28 ROMANCE AND HISTORY OF 



Parliament, they ceased to be Barons of the Realm. 
9. 1338-1371 — Sir Henry de Pomeroy, this 7th Henry 
married Joan, daughter of John, Lord Moels. They 
had sons: Henry, William, Nicholas, Thomas, John, 
Robert. 

10. 1371-1404 — Sir Henry de Pomeroy, married unknown; 
had a son and two daughters, Joan and Margaret. 

11. 1404-1422 — Sir John de Pomeroy, married daughter 
and heiress of Sir Richard Merton, widow of John 
Bomfylde, Esq. They had no issue. 

Sir John's sister Joan married Sir James Che(i)dley 
(leigh) ; Margaret married Adam Cole. Sir John 
died 1st year (1422) of King Henry VI. 

11. 1422-1426 — Joan de Pomeroy, daughter of Sir Henry 
and sister of Sir John, who married Sir James 
Chedleigh, had a daughter Joan. 

12. 1426-1440 — Joan de Pomeroy-Chedleigh, married (1) 
Sir John St. Aubin (Arebin) ; (2) Sir Philip Brian 
of Dorset ; (3) Chevalier Thomas Pomeroy of 
Dorset (1420-1443), a cousin to whom Sir John had 
willed the Lordship of Berry Pomeroy. By the 3d 
marriage a son was born. 

13. 1440-1454 — Sir Edward de Pomeroy, married Mar- 
garet, daughter of Peter Bevil. He sold the Lordship 
of Berry Pomeroy. 

14. 1454- 1490 — Sir Henry de Pomeroy, married (1) Alice, 
daughter of Walter Raleigh of Fardel ; (2) Amy 
Camel (of the family of Beaumont of Engsden). 
Hume says that Amy Camel was the 2d wife of 
Henry VI., and that her crest, a camel, was set up in 
the Church of Berry Pomeroy. 

15. 1474-1531 — Sir Richard de Pomeroy, son of Alice 
Raleigh, married Elizabeth, the daughter and heiress 
of Richard Denzell. They had Edward, who suc- 
ceeded in the line of the eldest son ; John and Henry. 

16. 1531-1570 — Henry Pomeroy, married unknown. 

17. 1560-1593 — Richard Pomeroy, married (as yet un- 
known.) According to Beaminster Church Register 
he had : Eltweed, bapt. July 4, 1585 ; Edward, bapt. 
March, 1591 ; Henry, bapt. August, 1593. 

18. 1585-1673 — Eltweed Pomeroy, married (1) at 



ELTWEED POMEROY'S ANCESTORS 



29 



Beaminster, May 4, 1617, Joan Keach (Keech), who 
died Nov. 27, 1620; (2) at Crewkerne, May 7, 1627, 
Margery Rockett. 

They were emigrants to America in 1630 (5th of 
King Charles I.*) in the ship "Mary and John," set- 
tling at Dorchester, Mass. He died in Northampton. 



Richard Pomeroy, father of Eltweed, had at least three 
sons : Eltweed, Edward who died in 1592, and Henry. United 
in this family of Richard's we find his own name to conform 
to that of Sir Richard of the 15th generation, whom we now 
hold to be his grandfather; Eltweed, which in Saxon nomen- 
clature is consistent with Ethel ward (Ethelwold or Ethel- 
wood), the name of Sir William's younger son; Edward, 



*dalen&ar of tlje lEtmltBl} Kings 



The House of Normandy 





Reigned 




from Years 


William I. 


1066 — 21 


William III. 


(3d son) 1087 — 13 


Henry I. 


1100 — 35 


Stephen 


1135 — 19 



The House of Plantagenet 
Henry II. 1154 — 35 

Richard 1. 1189 — 10 

John 1199 — 17 

Henry III. 1216 — 56 

Edward I. 1272 — 35 

Edward II. 1307 — 20 

Edward III. 1327 — 50 

Richard II. 1377 — 22 

The House of Lancaster 
Henry IV. 139 9 — 13 

Henry V. 1413 — 9 

Henry IV. 142 2 — 39 

The House of York 
Edward IV. 1461 — 22 

'Edward V. 1483—- 

Richard III. 1483 — 2 

The House of Tudor 
Henry VIT 1485 — 24 

Henry VIII. 1509 — 38 

Edward VI. 1547 — 6 

'Mary dau of H. VIII. 1553 — 5 
E El'z'b'th dau of H. VIII. 1558 — 44 



The House of Stuart 

Reigned 
from Years 

James I. 6th Scotland 1603 — 22 
'Charles I. 1625 — 24 

Charles II. 1649 — 36 

Oliver Cromwell, int'r 1649 — ■ 9 
Rich. Cromwell, protec 1658 — 1 
Mames II. 1685 — 3 

William III. 1689 — 19 

Anne dau of James II. 1702 — 12 

The House of Hanover 
George I. 1714 — 13 

George II. 1727 — 33 

George III. 1760 — 59 

George III. Regency 1801 — 19 
George IV. 1820 — 10 

William IV. 1830 — 7 

Victoria 1837 — 63 

The House of Saxe-Coburg 
Edward VII. son of 

Victoria 1901 — 7 



'Murdered. 

*And Catherine of Aragon. 

'And Anne Boleyn. 

'Beheaded. 



"Deposed. 



30 ROMANCE AND HISTORY OF 



which was the name of the successor in the 13th generation, 
and Henry, which was the name of the lord of the manor of 
Berry Pomeroy in the 14th generation, and also the name 
of Eltweed's grandfather. It is more than a remarkable 
coincidence to find in one family the names of the last three 
available ancestors, and one similar to that borne by a 
kinsman of a more remote period, either of which might have 
been changed in the confusion of history. It can also be taken 
into consideration that Richard's father Henry also bore the 
name of the Baron of the 14th generation. 

This Thomas Pomeroy who married Joan, the grand- 
c'aughter of Sir John Pomeroy, was Thomas Pomeroy, 
Chevalier of Dorset. Joan Pomeroy Chidleigh had previously 
married (1) Sir John St. Awbin; (2) Sir Philip Brian. Among 
the Dorset Plea Rolls is the following entry : 

"Dorset — Thomas Pomeroy, Chevalier, and Joan his wife, 
sued Hen. le Scrope for one-third of the Manor of Pompk- 
noole, as dower of Joan of dotation of Philip Bryan, her 
former husband, March 5 (He. IV.), 1404." 

One may assume from the Duchess of Cleveland's 
"Battell Abbey Roll" that Joel and Hugue (or Hugh) were 
brothers of Sir Ralph, and that during the minority of 
William, son of Ralph, Joel held the succession as guardian 
until the lad came of age. Hence the confusion in history of 
the time, which gives the succession to both Joel and William. 

The historian, Mr. Eyton, asserts that Ralph and William 
were brothers, while the Duchess of Cleveland in her "Battell 
Abbey Roll," vol. Ill, p. 10, insists that William succeeded 
Ralph ; and that William had a younger son, named Ethel- 
ward, who refounded Buckfast Abbey in the time of Henry 
I., and "whose name suggests an alliance with some Saxon 
house." However, logic seems to favor William as being the 
true successor, and the burden of the evidence is with him. 
Sir Ralph would doubtless christen his son and heir in honor 
of his chief and companion-in-arms. The marriage of a 
daughter of King Henry I., who was sister to Reginald, Ear! 
of Cornwall, is assigned to both William and Joel. The 
Duchess does not find a brother William in the "Battle Abbey 
Roll," but she does find Hugue Pomeroy. 

In the event that William was the successor, his son 



ELTWEED POMEROY'S ANCESTORS 31 



Sir Henry was a grandson of King Henry L, and half-brother 
to King Richard L, and to John with whom Sir Henry had 
joined in conspiracy against Richard. 

That Sir Henry was also a cousin in a degree to the 
Kings Edward I., and Edward II., all of the House of 
Plantagenet. 

Concerning the above marriage and the succession in the 
Pomeroy line, the ground is tenable that Joel was the son of 
Ralph, and that William was the son of Joel, or the reverse. 
In marking down the generations, and understanding that 
William of Normandy and Sir Ralph de Pomeroy were of the 
same generation, as they were companions-in-arms, and that 
William's son Henry and Ralph's son (say) William were 
of the same generation, we must have a representative 
of a third generation to espouse the daughter of King Henry 
I., and that may have been Joel, unless Sir William married 
into a younger generation than his age would represent. Thus : 

1. William of Normandy. 1. Sir Ralph de Pommeraie. 

2. King Henry I. 2. Sir William de Pommeraie. 

3. Beatrice (probably) bis dau. mar. 3. Sir Joel de Pommeraie. 



4. Sir Henry de Pommeraie, 
who married Maude de 
Vitrie (or Matilda), temp. 
King John. 

From this point the line continues without confusion 
until we reach the nth generation, when the succession 
passes to Joan, a sister of Sir John ; thence to a grand-daughter 
of Sir John, who was daughter of Joan and Sir James Chid- 
leigh, and who rescued the name to the succession by her 
third marriage with Chevalier Thomas Pomeroy of Dorset, 
to whose father, Robert, Sir John had willed the lordship of 
Berry Pomeroy, thus retaining name and succession through 
a younger son. 

The next salient point for controversy is in the 17th 
generation. It has been held by some historians that Sir 
Thomas de Pomeroy left no issue, but this is not true, as Sir 
Thomas has mentioned Thomas and Arthur in his will as 
sons, with other remainders to go to other children, one of 
whom was Richard, who received a provision, although inade- 



32 ROMANCE AND HISTORY OF 



quate, in Engsden, Devon. There was also a daughter, Joan, 
perhaps, who married Richard Penkerell of Rosuma, whose 
descendants were ruined in the time of Charles I., and sold 
their manor to Hugh Boscowen, Sheriff of Cornwall, in whose 
family it was settled on the Lady Ann Fitzgerald, Who carried 
it to her second husband, Francis Roberts, a younger brother 
of the Earl of Radnor. 



Joltitral honors of tb,r ^ousr of Jlomrroy 

(From "Fuller's Worthies," ''Gentry of the County.") 

"In the 12th of King Henry VI., 1433-4, Edward Pomeray, 
arms. Of the 78 names in this list, 34 have arms (Esquire), 
after their names ; 6 have Chevalier, and 28 have no 
distinction." 

"Sheriffs — In the 50th of Edward III., 1376, Niclius la 
Pomeray; 2d of Henry IV., 1201, Theo. Pomeroy of Berry 
Pomeroy; 13th of same reign, 1214, Ric. Pomeroy; 2d of 
Henry V., 1415, Tho. Pomeroy; 10th of Henry VI., 1432, 
Edw. Pomeroy; 13th of Edward IV., 1474, Richard Pomeroy; 
8th of Henry VII., 1493, Richard Pomeroy, mil ; ut prius (as 
before) follows these names, under the heading 'place,' 
meaning of 'Berry Pomeroy.' " 

Then we pass to Elizabeth, 1585, when the Sheriff is 
Edward Seymour, mil. of Bery Castle. (It was in 1549 that 
Sir Thomas Pomeroy 's estates passed to the Seymour- 
Somersets.) 

"37th Elizabeth, 1595, Ed Seymour, arm. and ut prius of 
Bury Castle; and again, 3d of James I., 1606, Edward Seimour, 
arm. . . . and ut prius." 



©Ijr Jhmtprou AnrrBtora forr? $farB?mrn of Norfoay 

Sir Rolf de Pomeroy, who was born among the apple 
orchards of Normandy about 1025, was descended from Rolf, 
the Norsemen, who, under Rollo, landed on the shores of 
Neustra, France, with Rolf Ganger (Rolf the Walker), a 
Prince of Norway, in the ninth century, for the conquest of 
that province. This Sir Rolf de Pomeroy, who was a Sire 



ELTWEED POMEROY'S ANCESTORS 33 



and Tenant-in-Chief in Normandy, embarked with Duke 
William of Normandy at St. Valleries in 1066 for the subju- 
gation of England. His name is in the muster roll of the 
army of invasion at St. Valleries, and is borne on the roll of 
the Domesday Book at Battell Abbey. His services were 
so efficient at the battle of Hastings, October 14, 1066, that 
William the Conqueror placed him in possession of fifty-eight 
townships in Devonshire, and seventeen in Somerset. 



Mp Attrwnt Semifine of Alririta tlje ^axon 

(From the "Guide Book of Pomeroy Castle," Devon, 

England.) 

"The ancient manor of Berri Pomeroy, Which in the time 
of King Edward the Confessor (1060), belonged to Alricus 
the Saxon, was bestowed by William the Conqueror on Sir 
Rolfe de Pomeroy, who, after accompanying the Norman 
Duke to England, rendered him such valuable assistance in 
his successful invasion of England in 1066 that he received 
from him no fewer than fifty-eight lordships in Devonshire, 
and many in Somersetshire, as a reward. Selecting a 
favorable site not far from the river Dart, Sir Rolfe erected 
thereon the celebrated stronghold that now bears the family 
name of Berry Pomeroy Castle, the stately ruins of which, 
perched on a rocky eminence, with a crystal stream flowing 
at the foot, constitute one of the most ancient and picturesque 
objects of interest to be found in the county of Devon. It 
is indeed an old-time relic, and to the present generation is a 
reminder of the feudal days when armor-clad knights rode 
out under the great gateway to do battle with a foe. 

"The subsequent career of some of the members of the 
family of Pomeroy appears to have been somewhat event- 
ful ; and they seemed to have formed good matrimonial 
alliances ; William, for instance, the son of Rolfe, married 
one of the natural daughters of King Henry I., a sister of 
Reginald, Earl of Cornwall. Their heirs were Barons and 
Members of the House of Lords till the reign of King Edward 
I. (1338), after which time, according to Dugdale, the 
antiquarian and historian, they never had the benefit of 



34 ROMANCE AND HISTORY OF 



peerage, although they continued in their barony of Berry 
Pomeroy until the reign of King Edward VI., about 1550, 
when that was confiscated. 

"It is also said that in 1257, the 41st year of the reign of 
King Henry III., the peerage in Parliament of the Pomeroy 
Family came to a termination, the last peer being Sir Henry 
de Pomeroy, who in doing homage had livery of thirty-eight 
fees in Beri (Berry) and Harburton, as well as the manors 
of Beri and Stockley Pomerai (Pomeroy) and the moiety of 
the manors of Harburton and Brixham, all of which he held 
in capite of the King by the service of Barony. In the 
following year he was summoned to provide himself with 
horse and arms and to attend the King at Chester in order 
to join him in resisting the Welsh ; but being afterward 
found in arms against his sovereign the lands of Sir Henry 
de Pomeroy were entreated. 

"In the year 1102 Sir William de Pomeroy is said to have 
given his Lordship of Biry to the monks of Gloucester, but 
his brother Joselin, or Gozeline, afterward redeemed it by 
a grant of some other property in lieu of it. This Sir William 
had a son called Ethelward, who is declared by Dugdale to 
have founded the Abbey of Buckfast, which, however, he 
could not have done, since it was a Benedictine Abbey 
before the time of the conquest. But he may very probably 
have refounded and restored it, as his arms are still to be 
= een there." 



Attrimi attfc Ststutritfo £fam? in l-nglatifc 

(From Burke's Landed Gentry.) 

"The name of Sir Rolfe de Pomerei was variously spelled 
in England, 'Pommerays,' 'Pomerae,' 'Pomerei,' 'Pomeraye,' 
'Pommeraie' and 'Pomeroy,' until 1540, when the latter 
rendition was uniformly adopted. 

"Of the great array of time-honored names very few are 
now borne by direct representatives. They exi?t rather 
among the old gentry than in the peerage. In the majority 
of cases the later descendants of illustrious families have 
sunk into poverty and obscurity, unconscious of their origin ; 



ELTWEED POMEROY'S ANCESTORS 35 



and this was more likely to be the case with the younger 
branches, since the name or title of the family went with 
the elder line that inherited the estates. 

"The name as given here is found in the Doomsday 
Book, and the bearer, Sir Rolfe de Pomerei, was a genuine 
follower of the Conqueror, and a Tenant-in-Chief in Nor- 
mandy. It is obvious that those names which compare 
favorably with the Doomsday Book are the most reliable. 

"Much doubt has long existed as to the authenticity of 
the names of the Norman invaders who survived the battle 
of Hastings, October 14, 1066, but it is manifest that those 
recorded, even if they ever were upon the original document 
deposited with the monks of Battell Abbey and not found 
to correspond with the muster rolls as tenants-in-chief or 
under-tenants of Doomsday Book at the time of the survey 
(A. D., 1086) are subject to suspicion as not being genuine." 

(From the "Dictionary of Family Names of the United 

Kingdom," by Lamer:) 

See concerning the name of Pommeraye in Normandy 
and Devon. The name is in "H. R." or "Rotuli Hundred- 
orum," that is "Rolls of the Hundreds," 1273, made by 
Edward I., as an inquiry into the state of the demesnes, many 
of which had been resigned. 

See Bardsley's "Ancient Surnames" concerning deriva- 
tion of names in Normandv. 



(Eomntrnts by tlje IGai? (£ij?st?r Jtom? roy Srfofg 

The Family of Pomeroy deduces its origin from la 
Pomeraye, a hamlet near Point d'Orrelly on the Orne. Sir 
Ralph de Pomeroy (or Pomerai), born at the manor of 
Pomeraye in Normandy, was descended from the Northmen 
(or Norsemen), who under Rollo, conquered Neustria, now 
called Normandy, 912. He was a favorite knight of Duke 
William the Conqueror, whom he accompanied to England 
in 1066. He acted a conspicuous part in the conquest, after 
which William granted him sixty lordships and manors (some 
say fifty or fifty-eight) in Devon and Somerset. In Devon 
Ralph built a castle called Berry Pomeroy, after the seat he 
left in Normandy. It is still known by this name, and is a 



36 ROMANCE AND HISTORY OF 



noble ruin in tolerable preservation. According to some 
accounts it was sold in the reign of Edward VI. to Edward 
Seymour, Duke of Somerset. It was destroyed by the Par- 
liamentary arm) r in the Civil War, during the reign of 
Charles I. 

Most of the Pomeroy families in England and the United 
States can be traced to this Sir Ralph. Those that cannot 
be thus traced, cannot be traced to any other source, so that 
they are all probably of the same lineage. 

In the reign of Charles II., the Rev. Arthur Pomeroy 
went as Chaplain to Ireland with the Earl of Essex. His 
descendant, Arthur Pomeroy, was made a Baron in 1783. 
under the title of Lord Harburton of Castle Carberry, and 
was created a Viscount in 1790. This Arthur had four sons 
and two daughters. Three sons succeeded him in turn. The 
story that he was succeeded by his brother, Major-Generai 
John Pomeroy, a British officer in our Revolution, has no 
foundation. 

Eltweed Pomeroy came to Dorchester (Boston), Massa- 
chusetts, in 1630, in the ship, "Mary and John." bringing with 
him a wife and infant son named Elded. He was a man of 
sterling character and took a foremost part in organizing 
the local government. He is said to have come from Devon- 
shire, England. Another account refers his family to North- 
ampton, and another to Wales. Elded died without known 
issue and no other Pomeroys are known to have come to 
America at this time. Most of the Pomeroys in the United 
States can be directly traced to Eltweed, and he to Sir Ralph ; 
the others can be traced to no other source, and are probably 
of the same stock. 

The land Barony of Berry Pomeroy was in possession of 
the Pomeroy family until the time of Sir Thomas Pomeroy 
(4th year of King Edward VI.). The spelling Pomerai or 
Pomeraye was changed to Pomeroy about 1508. 

"Two miles beyond Shobrook we pass through Stockley 
(leigh) Pomeroy, one of the ancient estates of the powerful 
family of Pomeroy." 



•Names an& Stratum nf Hartnua 
|tommiy iSJanorB 



Imij Jlomrniij <£ astir 

(From Burke's Landed Gentry.) 

"The Castle of Berry Pomeroy in the county of Devon, 
one mile from Totnes, took its name from a Norman estate 
of Rolfe de Pomeroy, by one of which family it was originally 
erected. They came into England with the Norman Con- 
queror and resided here until the reign of Edward VI. (1547- 
1553), when the manor was sold (confiscated) by Sir Thomas 
de Pomeroy (about 1550) to Edward Seymour, Duke of 
Somerset. From the ruins it may be inferred that the ancient 
Castle was quadrangular, with a single entrance, upon the 
south, between two towers, through a double gateway. They 
were in the form of hexagons, one of them being strengthened 
by angular bastions and still retaining the arms of the Pome- 
roys. Over the gateway is a small room divided by a wall, 
supported by three pillars and circular arches. This was 
probably the chapel. The ruins of the interior part, or quad- 
rangle, are much more modern than any other portion of the 
edifice. 

"The Castle stood a mile distant toward the east from the 
parish church of Biry (Berry) Pomeroy. What it w r as in 
its antique form can hardly be calculated from what at 
present remains standing, which is only the front facing the 
south in a direct line of about sixty cloth-yards in length. 
The gate stands toward the west end of the front, over which, 
carved in mott-stone, is yet remaining the Pomeroy arms. 
It had heretofore a double portcullus, whose entrance is 
about twelve feet in height and thirty feet in length ; which 
gate is embattled, as are the walls yet standing home to the 
east end thereof, where answereth yet in being a tower called 
St. Margaret's, from which several gentlemen of this county 
recently held their lands. Within this is a large quadrangle 
at the north and east side whereof the family of Seymour 
built magnificent structures at the charges of £20,000, but 
never brought it to perfection, for the west side of the 
quadrangle was never begun. 



38 ROMANCE AND HISTORY OF 



'"What was finished may be thus described: Before the 
door of the great hall was a noble walk, whose length was 
the breadth of the court, arched over with curiously carved 
free-stone, supported in the forepart by several stately pillars 
of the same stone of great dimensions, after the Corinthian 
order, standing on pedestals having cornices of friezes finely 
wrought, behind which were placed in the wall several seats, 
of frieze stone also, cut in the form of an escallop shell in 
which the company, when weary, might repose themselves. 

"The apartments within were very splendid, especiallv 
the dining-room, which was adorned, besides paintings, with 
statues and figures cut in alabaster, with admirable art and 
labor ; but the chimney piece of polished marble, curiously 
engraved, was of great cost and value. Many other of the 
rooms are well adorned with mouldings and fret-work, some 
of whose marble clavils were so delicately fine that they 
would reflect an object true and lively from a great distance. 
Notwithstanding which 'tis now demolished, and all this 
glory lieth in the dust, buried in its own ruins; there being 
nothing standing but a few broken walls, which seem to 
mourn their own approaching funerals. But what we think 
strangest of all, is that one and the same age saw the rise and 
fall of this noble structure." 
(From John Timb's "Abbeys, Castles and Ancient Halls of 

England and Wales.") 

"This person. Sir Ralph de Pomeroy, built a castle here 
which he named Berry Pomeroy, and made it a seat of a 
barony or honor. The family of the Pomeroys continued to 
reside here and hold the chief rank in this part of the country 
until the reign of Edward VI., when the manor of Berry 
came by forfeiture, cession or sale, it is not agreed which, 
from the hands of Sir Thomas Pomeroy to the Protector 
Somerset. one of whose descendants, Sir Edward Somerset, 
the second baronet, in the latter part of his life lived in retire- 
ment in the Castle of Berry Pomeroy, upon which he is said 
to have expended upward of £20,000. His eldest son, Sir 
Edward, sat for Devon in the last two Parliaments of Charles 
I., and by adherence to whom Sir Edward had the Castle 
plundered and burnt to the ground. A mansion was then 
built * * which has since remained with Sir Edward's 



ELTWEED POMEROY'S ANCESTORS 39 



descendants. The Duke of Somerset is impropriator of the 
great tytles (or tythes) which formerly belonged to the 
Priory of Merton in Surrey. * * According to 

tradition, the tower of Berry Pomeroy was destroyed by 
lightning." 

Timb's also gives a brief description of the ruins of Berry 
Pomeroy. 
(From the Century Magazine, December, 1883.) 

"Many and curious in Devonshire are the remains which 
link the past in picturesque association with the present, and 
possess for the antiquarian an interest which few other 
counties in England can rival. The ruins of its ancient 
castles at Oakhampton, at Plympton, at Tiverton, at Totnes, 
and at Berry Pomeroy, are among the most striking and 
beautiful of the relics of feudal times. Though now moulder- 
ing in decay, and yielding to the general conquest of the ivy- 
trailers which clinsf round and cover with a thin but denselv 
picturesque mass of evergreen and crumbling stones of keep, 
and embattlement, they attest no less by their grandeur, the 
thickness of their walls, than by the surroundings of their 
position, that they were once among the proudest of the 
feudal strong-holds of England. 

'Perhaps of all these magnificent ruins, the most beauti- 
ful in charm and grandeur are those of Berry Pomeroy. 
They stand on the crest of a lofty cliff, and are embowered 
in woods ; when viewed from the valley below they impress 
the beholder with a sense of their exceeding grandeur. Berry 
Pomeroy Castle was erected by Rolph de Pomeroy, one of 
the chief knights of the Norman conqueror of England. The 
original extent of its buildings may be comprehended from 
the statement that it was a long day's work for a man-at-arms 
to open and close the casements belonging to them. 

"According to one tradition the Castle was bombarded 
by the King's troops during the reign of Edward IV., because 
the head of the House of Pomeroy refused to obey a mandate 
of the King to dismantle it. In this task the King was 
assisted by a terrific thunder storm ; and its exposed position, 
from which it towers above the highest trees of the magnifi- 
cent wood which surrounds it, would lend weight to the 
story. Again tradition recites that it was not until the civil 



40 ROMANCE AND HISTORY OF 



war that the Castle was dismantled and the church 
adornments carried oft* or destroyed by the followers of 
Oliver Cromwell." 

As a pendent to this picture, it will not be amiss to give 
here what Maton has said of the same place, in a tone more 
picturesque though not more graphic than the description 
of the old chronicler. 

"Berry Pomeroy Castle stands upon a rocky eminence 
rising above a brook. The approach is through a thick beech 
wood extending along the slope of a range of hills that 
entirely intercept any prospect to the south ; on the opposite 
side there is a steep rocky ridge covered with oak, so that 
the ruins are shut into a beautiful valley and in quite a 
retired and romantic a situation on the banks of a bright 
stream which flows into the river Dart, and which 

"Rushing o'er its pebbly bed 
Imposes silence with a stilly sound." 

The remarkable remains of Berry Pomeroy Castle at 
first suggests only an idea of some peaceful monastic mansion 
to the mind of the spectator. When he perceives frowning 
turrets, however, massive walls and gloomy dungeons, his 
imagination will be wholly at variance with the beauty and 
serenity of the spot, and he will think only of sieges, chains, 
torture and death. 

The great gate, with the walls of the south front, the 
north wing of the court or quadrangle, some apartments on 
the west side, and a turret or two are the principal remains 
of the Castle ; and these are so finely overhung with the 
branches of the trees and shrubs that grow close to the walls, 
so beautifully mantled with ivy and so richly incrusted with 
moss, that they constitute the most picturesque effects that 
can be imagined. 

And when the surrounding scenery is taken into account, 
the noble mass of wood fronting the gate, the bold ridges 
rising into the horizon, and the fertile valley rising in the 
opening to the east, the ruins of Berry Pomeroy Castle must 
be considered as almost unparalleled in their grandeur. The 
eastern tower is accessible by a passage from the chapel over 
the gateway; here is the best point for surveying the 
environs of the castle. The interior part appears to be consid- 



ELTWEED POMEROY'S ANCESTORS 41 



erably more modern than the gate and outer walls, the 
windows being square or oblong, with lintels and cross-bars 
of stone. There is, however, in the present mansion a fine 
apartment called the great hall, 70 feet long and 40 feet wide, 
while the roof is of oak very curiously framed, and the 
chimney piece is 14 feet in height. It is going rapidly to 
decay, however, and the walls being composed of slate, might 
be entirely demolished with little trouble. To these details 
should be added that the Castle was dismantled in the time 
of the great Civil War — about 1650." 



(Ull* (£uarfc Smut! and (Eljapd in tff? utohwr 

(From the "Guide Book of Berry Pomeroy Castle.'') 

Immediately over the gateway giving entrance to the 
tower of Berry Pomeroy Castle is a small room containing 
about a dozen loop-holes and divided by a wall, supported by 
two pillars and circular arches. This chamber is generally called 
the chapel, but was evidently the guard-room, seeing that the 
opening for the fall of the portcullus still remains in the 
walls. The chapel, however, was probably over or adjoining 
this apartment. In the above room are steps leading down 
to two small chambers on each side of the gateway which are 
arched over. They are six feet in width and eleven feet in 
length and height, and also provided with loop-holes. A 
passage leads out of the guard-room to the foot of the winding 
staircase, by which visitors may ascend to the summit of the 
western tower, from whence a very fine view of the sur- 
rounding country can be obtained. In a direct line from this 
wall will be found at the eastern extremity of the ramparts 
the remains of what are known in history by the name of 
St. Margaret's Towers, which possess a peculiar interest from 
the traditionary supposition that in its gloomy basement 
chambers the proud Lady Eleanor de Pomeroy confined her 
sister, Lady Matilda, for a lengthened period, and a belief 
exists that in olden time a communication by means of a 
subterranean passage was afforded from this same dungeou 
to Compton Castle, another similarly fortified stronghold on 



42 ROMANCE AND HISTORY OF 



the demesne of Sir Humphrey Pomeroy Gilbert, who colon- 
ized Newfoundland, now occupied as a farmhouse, and is not 
far distant from Marldon. 

All the portions of the ruins of Berry Pomeroy Castle 
encircling the interior were indisputably the work of Sir 
Rolfe de Pomeroy, on whom the Conqueror bestowed the 
manor of Alricus the Saxon thane after his subjugation of 
England in 1066. The comparatively modern parts are 
indicative of their having contained many apartments, the 
windows and after recesses showing the building to have 
been at least four stories high, but the kitchen fire-places 
here are not nearly so large as those in the older portion, 
in the northwest angle, which extends to a width of twelve 
feet and large enough to permit a whole ox to be roasted at 
one time. The difference in the architectural arrangement 
is here strikingly exhibited, which may be accounted for by 
the change in the proprietorship from the Pomeroys to the 
Sevmours. 



This structure appears from the architecture to have 
been rebuilt in the fifteenth century, most probably by Sir 
Richard de Pomeroy, the elder of the two sons of Sir Henry 
de Pomeroy. The south aisles, however, must have been 
added afterward at the expense of sundry persons whose 
names are recorded on the scrolls encircling the capitals of 
the southern pillars. At the front of one of the tombs in 
Berry churchyard are the arms of the Pomeroys, at the 
western end of the monument, and at the eastern end a 
shield, supported by two angels, displays Pomeroy arms 
impaled with those of Sir Richard Denzell, of Filleigh, whose 
daughter Elizabeth married Richard, who was of the 15th 
generation from Rolfe, and whose mother was Alice, daughter 
of Walter Raleigh. Judging from the style of the architecture, 
the church, it is believed, was erected during the lifetime 
of this Sir Richard, between 1470-1512, and who may 
possibly have been incited to undertake the work through 
the influence of his uncle, St. Clare de Pomeroy, at that time 
Abbot of Buckfast. 




o 

■■a 

o 
a. 

w 
Q 



< 



pi 



«4 

o 



ELTWEED POMEROY'S ANCESTORS 43 

The magnificent screen with the projection of the rood- 
loft remaining, is profusely adorned with fern tracery, hand- 
some perpendicular bosses, carving and gilding. The lower 
part of it having been much mutilated, it is supposed by the 
followers of Oliver Cromwell, the carved figures in the 
compartments into which it was divided are therefore very 
indistinct. 

In the tower, which is square and embattled, there was 
once apparently a chapel opening beneath an arch on the 
southern side. Above the place where the altar must have 
stood, there remains a stone shelf which was doubtless a 
retable. Three of the bells are dated 1607, 1635 and 1715, 
and are inscribed in the name of the church wardens. A 
fourth bell was hung in the year 1829. 

!?rrtr ^i\Bt <mb If tntrag? 

Contiguous to the church on the northeast side stands 
Berry Pomeroy House, which before the Reformation was 
doubtless the Rectory house and occasional residence of 
the Prior of Moreton, to whom the Rectory then belonged. 
The dining-room is wainscotted and has two square-headed 
perpendicular doorways. The house also contains some fine 
specimens of oak carving. 

On the southern side of the church is the Vicarage, where 
the Rev. John Prince wrote the "Worthies of Devon," the 
first edition of Which was published in 1701. He died in 1723, 
and was buried in the churchyard of the parish of Berry 
Pomeroy, of which he had been vicar for forty-two years, 
and previous to this he had been vicar of Totnes, which was 
a part of the Pomeroy domain, about five years. 



®Ip> (EaHtk IHiU 

The architectural features of the Castle Mill on the 
manor of Berry Pomeroy are well worth examining. You 
reach it by a narrow winding path on the northeast side of 
the Castle at the foot of a hill by which runs a little brook. 
The water of the brook after being confined by a dam serves 



44 ROMANCE AND HISTORY OF 



to turn the mill wheel. Although the water power is at 
present made use of for the purpose of sawing wood, in ages 
gone by it was employed in supplying the needs of the Castle. 
By surmounting the bank on the opposite side of the stream 
one can obtain a view of the ruins somewhat less obstructed 
than any that can be had at any other point. 



%t$?nbs of tip (Eastle 

Among the variety of legends handed down in regard to 
the Castle there are many of a sensational character, of the 
type of which love and violence predominate. According to 
the superstitious, Berry Pomeroy Castle and its grounds 
are said to be still haunted. One story avers that a fair 
maid of the Castle plighted her troth to a son of a neighboring 
lord, between whom and the Pomeroys a life-blood feud 
raged, and that a brother of the young lady came upon them 
in a rose bower and killed both. Tales of this description 
are innumerable and it is not surprising, therefore, when 
the shadows of the night fall that ghosts are conjured up 
in the minds of the imaginative. But perhaps no tale is more 
cherished than the one relating to the Pomeroys at the time 
of the last siege of the Castle, when prior to their desperate 
leap over the precipice the Barons had buried in the soil the 
gold and spoil their foes had fought for. 



St. Michael's Mount is on Mount's Bay, a few miles from 
Penzance, Cornwall. 
(From Sir James D. McKenzie's "Castles of England," vol. 

II.) 

"This is an isolated granite crag in the parish of St. 
Hilary, 195 feet high and 5 furlongs in circumference, stand- 
ing in Mount's Bay, east of Penzance. It is said to have been 
cut off from the mainland by a mighty inundation in 1099, 
and is now joined to the shore only by a low causeway, 560 
yards long of land which is covered by the tide 16 of the 24 
hours. 



ELTWEED POMEROY'S ANCESTORS 45 



"The hill is covered by an ancient building founded by 
Edward the Confessor as a priory for the Benedictine monks, 
and which in later years was fortified. The first military 
occupation of this structure was effected by Henry de 
Pomeroy, who having during the absence of King Richard I. 
at the holy wars, assisted the usurping Prince John. He was 
summoned by the Vicegerent Bishop Longchamp from Berry 
Pomeroy (q. v. Devon). He, however, stabbed the messenger 
who had deceived him into large entertainment, and fled to 
his Castle of Tregoney, the strength of which mistrusting he 
thence proceeded with some followers to the Mount where 
the party, disguised as pilgrims, introduced themselves into 
the monastic buildings, seized and fortified them and remained 
there for several months. 

"On the return of King Richard from his Austrian prison. 
Sir Henry de Pomeroy, fearing the consequences of his 
contumacy, is said to have bled himself to death, and the 
Mount was surrendered to Waton, Archbishop of Canterbury, 
the Chancellor who was sent to regain the place in 1194. 

"King Richard then restored the monks, placing a small 
garrison at the Mount to guard it in future. 

"This Henry de Pomeroy being son of Sir William and 
a daughter, by common law marriage, of Henry I., was thus 
a relation of Richard I. and his brother John. Also of Kings 
Edward I and Edward II." 

(From Thomas Fuller's "Worthies of England," vol. I, p. 425. 
Title "Memorable Persons.") 

"Henry de la Pomeroy, lived at and was lord of Berry 
Pomeroy in this county (Devon). 

"This Henry, taking heart at the imprisonment of 
Richard the First (born 1157, crowned 1189, died 1199; 
imprisoned 1192-1194 by Leopaldus, Duke of Austria), sur- 
prised and expulsed the monks out of Michael's Mount in 
Cornwall, that then he might be a petty prince by himself. 
But being ascertained of his sovereign's enlargement, and 
fearing deserved death, to prevent it he laid violent hands 
on himself, as Roger Hovedon doth report. 

"But the descendants from this Pomeroy make a differ- 
ent relation of this accident, affirming that a sergeant-at-arms 
of the King's came to his Castle at Berry Pomeroy, and there 



46 ROMANCE AND HISTORY OF 



received kind entertainment for certain days together, and at 
his departure was gratified with a liberal reward. In counter- 
change thereof, he then, and no sooner, revealed his long 
concealed errand and flatly arrested his host, to make his 
immediate appearance before the King, to answer a capital 
crime, which unexpected and ill-carried message the gentle 
man took in such despite that with his dagger he stabbed the 
messenger to the heart. 

"Then, despairing of pardon in so superlative an offense, 
he abandoned his house, and got himself to his sister, abiding 
in the Island of Mount St. Michael in Cornwall. Here he 
bequeathed a large portion of his land to the religious people 
dwelling there to pray for the redeeming of his soul ; and 
lastly, that the remainder of 'his estate might descend to his 
heirs, he caused himself to be let blood unto death." 

Another account is briefly stated in "Murray's Hand 
Book of Cornwall," p. 194: 

"The military annals of the Mount (St. Michael's) com- 
mence with King Richard's captivity, when Henry de la 
Pomeroy gained possession of the place, and reduced it 
to the service of King John, who was aspiring to 'his brother's 
throne. Upon the return of the King, however, the garrison 
surrendered, and according to the tradition, Pomeroy caused 
himself to be bled to death." 

Concerning the episode at St. Michael's Mount, another 
authority says : 

"St. Michael's Mount was held by the Benedictine Monks 
until 1 194, when the country being in great confusion by the 
absence of King Richard I., in Palestine, one Henry de la 
Pomeroy, a Devonshire Baron, having been summoned to 
attend the King's court for some misdemeanor, killed the 
Sergeant-at-Arms and took refuge in the Monastery ; but the 
monks being unable to screen him, 'he drove them all out, 
fortified the rocks and sides of it where he defended himself 
till the accession of John, when making his peace with that 
monarch he was forgiven and restored to his paternal estates." 




-4 
< 



o 
u 

z 
o 



< 

u 



z 

< 



fan 

o 



z 

o 



ELTWEED POMEROY'S ANCESTORS 47 



©raganrg (East!* in (Eornfoall 

(From Sir James D. McKenzie's "Castles of England," vol. 

II.) 

"At the lower end of this town (Cornwall) on the east 
side of Fal river a little below the hospital is an earthwork 
on a hill, still called the Castle Hill, on which are some 
scanty remains of a castle built by Sir Henry de Pomeroy 
(temp. Richard I.). Tradition says that Baron Pomeroy, 
being appointed Lord of the Manor in the reign of Henry II. 
on behalf of Prince John, Earl of Mertain and Cornwall, 
espoused the cause of John when in rebellion against his 
brother Richard I. The castle was standing and remained 
a seat of these Pomeroys until the reign of Edward VI. 

"The last Pomeroy (temp. Elizabeth) left issue a 
daughter who was married to Richard Penkirell of Resuma, 
whose descendants having been ruined in the time of Charles 
I. sold the manor to Hugh Boscowen, Sheriff of Cornwall, in 
which family it was settled on the Lady Anne Fitzgerald, 
who carried it to her second husband, Francis Roberts, young- 
est son of the Earl of Radnor (Hals). 

"Whitaker ascribes the site of this castle to the choice 
of the Romans, who placed a fort there to command the 
lowest ford of the Fal, having a high precipice on each side, 
and a brook which joined the river, beneath it. The trenches 
of the later fortress built here are still visible." 

"Tragoney is a small borough town on the same side of 
the river, three miles to the southwest of Grampound. It 
is a place of great antiquity, being mentioned in Doomsday 
Book as part of the Earldom of Cornwall, given by the 
Conqueror to his brother Robert, from whom it descended 
to the family of Pomeroy, who were in possession of it till 
the reign of Elizabeth, but either by descent or purchase, it 
is now part of the estate of the noble family of Boscowen." 

"In the 40th year of King Henry III., the Pomeroy 
family was returned among the first-class land holders ; they 
continued to possess considerable landed property in Cornwall 
for several generations, their chief seat being at Tragoney, 
and holding thirty librates of land. The manor of Tragoney 
was at a very early period in the ancient family of the Pome 



48 ROMANCE AND HISTORY OF 



roys, who are supposed to have acquired it by the marriage of 
William, son of Ralph, with a natural daughter of King 
Henry I., the first sister of Reginald, Earl of Cornwall." 

(Ibid.) 

''The Pomeroys are said to have come from Cinglais, 
near Falais, Normandy, where a fragment of their castle still 
remains. Sir Thomas, the last of the race to occupy Berry, 
served with distinction in France with Henry VIII. , and 
acquired his confidence. * * The descendants of 

Thomas afterward resided in the parish of Harberton till 
the beginning of the 18th century. A grandson of the Rev. 
Arthur Pomeroy was raised to the the peerage." 
(From Palgrave's "Normandy of England," vol. 3. A chapter 

in the Appendix headed, "The Baronial Castles of the 

Cotentin, the Avranchin, and the Bessin," contains the 

following:) 

"La Pommeraye. This Cotentin family possesses upward 
of fifty knights' fees in Devonshire. Bury Pommeroye and 
Stoke le Pommeroye still commemorate their name." 

"Chateau Gaune. This name is attached to many places 
in Normandy and it seemeth to be strongly but unaccountably 
connected with the romances of the Cycle of Charlemagne, 
and wherever it occurs it seems to be connected with some 
real or alleged act of treachery or treason. * * * " 

Bzc'hal. Held by Fulke Pagnel. Within this lordship 
we find the cradle of the Pomerois, in the Department of 
Manche. Cotentin is a peninsula in Normandy in the 
Department of Manche. Its western extremity is Cape la 
Hague. The principal town was Coutances. Avranchin, 
a section, adjoined it on the south, and Bessin, another section 
or territory, on the northeast." 

"Ingesden belonged to the Beaumonts, who held it till 
the reign of Edward IV. (1461), when the heiress brought it 
to the Pomeroy family, in whom it remained many years. 
The manor of Mamhead was held by Ralph de Pomeroy, at 
the time of the Doomesday survey." 

"The manor of Good a' Mearv belonged to the Pomeroy 
family." 

"The manor of East Ogwell was held by Ralph de 
Pomeroy at the survey." 



ELTWEED POMEROY'S ANCESTORS 49 

"The manor of Up-Ottely was given by William I. to 
R. de Pomieroy." 

The manor of Tale was given to Ford Abbey by Josce- 
lynde de Pommeray." 



g>anteridg? t irfnm 

(From "Worthies of Devon," p. 285, under "Capt. John 

Davies.") 

"Sandridge, Devon, near Berry Pomeroy, became the 
inheritance of the ancient and honorable family of Berry 
Pomeroy, and most likely at last, the portion of a younger 
son of Berry Castle, in the parish of Berry Pomeroy, about 
four miles from (it) ; though afterwards it yielded a strain 
for that ancient and noble 'house. For Sir John de la Pom- 
meraye of Berry Pomeroy, of the 10th generation, having 
no heirs, settled his lands (about 1404) upon Sir Thomas of 
Sandridge, aforesaid, who had married Joan, daughter of Sir 
James Chudleigh, Kt., by his wife Joan Pomeroy, sister of the 
said Sir John. Sandridge still remains in this honorable 
name, and is at this time (1701) the dwelling of Roger 
Pomeroy, Esq., the topmost branch of this ancient stock.'' 
^From the "Worthies of Devon," p. 645.) 

"This family was not only very noble in its original, but 
in its alliances, matching once with the blood royal, and 
several times with the daughters of the principal peers of 
the realm. Here (Berry Pomeroy) this great progeny had 
their dwelling from the time of the Norman conquest to the 
days of King Edward VI., about 500 years." 



Qvtmntan (tell* in (Eornteall 

(From Camden Society, "Leland's Itinerary," vol. VI, pp. 

58-59. — This Itinerary was begun in 1538.) 

"One of the Pomereis of Devonshire long since lost the 

most part of his inheritance by killing a messenger or herald 

sent from the King unto him. At that time Pomeroy was lord 



50 ROMANCE AND HISTORY OF 



of Tremington (Tremerton) Castle in Cornwall, and of the 
Castle of the Monte St. Michael, and of the Lordships of 
Tamarton. 

"Pomeroy of told me that the Pomeries were 

once Lords of Bever Castle that the Lord Rose hath now. 

* * * Of descent from Pomeroy, now Lord of Byri, 

there were three Pomeries (brothers) of Byri, and the two 

younger of them were provided for and endowed with lands." 

®lj? Uaronfl of Balktorl 

(From "Peerage of England," by Nicholas.) 
"Barons by Tenure," Valletort. 

Ralph de Valletort held one Knight's fee, Devon, 

1 185; next mentioned is, 

Roger de Valletort, who, in 1186, held the honor 

of Tremerton in Cornwall ; living 1203, to whom 

succeeded, 

Reginald de Valletort, who died 1246 without 

issue. 

Ralph de Valletort, brother and heir, died 1259. 

Reginald de Valletort, son and heir, died 1270; 

no issue. 

Roger de Valletort, uncle and heir, died 1290; no 

issue, leaving Henry de Pomeroy and Peter 

Corbet next heirs." 



"Henry II 
"John. 

"Henry III 



"same, 
"same. 



'Edward I. 



(Henry de Pomeroy married Joan de Valletort, and died in 
1281; their son Henry, who was 16 years old at the time of his 
father's death, succeeded to this Knight's fee of Tremerton, but 
failed in joint petition for the domains. — A. A. P.) 

(From Burke's "Dictionary of the Landed Gentry," vol. 1, 

p. 263.) 

"Peter Corbet, the second son, succeeded his father, who 
died in 1300, in the estates of his family, joined with Henry 
de la Pomeroy in petitioning Parliament for the domains of 
the Valletort family, but without success." 
(From the same vol. 3, Supplement, p. 107) 

"The Pomeroys were of great antiquity in Devonshire 
and Cornwall, and descended from Joel de la Pomeri, who 
married a daughter of King Henry I., and sister of Reginald, 
Earl of Cornwall." 



ELTWEED POMEROY'S ANCESTORS 51 



ffimwr of Albr rtmt, T$tn%mtt 

(From "Kings, Earls and True Nobility of England.") 

"Beatrice (?), daughter of Henry I., and sister of 
Reginald, Earl of Cornwall, married Sir William Pomeroy, 
and in 1080 the whole manor of Alverton, Penzance, passed 
from the Earls of Cornwall to the Pomeroys." 



Xichols, Topographist and Genealogist, says: "Francis 
Drew, the second of that name in the Irish line, and the son of 
John and Margaret Drew, suffered great losses during the 
war previous to the revolution. His place at Kilwiny, county 
Waterford, was laid waste by King James' army and the 
house burnt. He served at the battle of Angheim and at the 
sieges of Athone, Galway and Limerick in King William's 
army. He was a devoted Protestant and his remains were 
interred under his own seat in the church of the Castle in 
Ireland. 

"His wife was Rebecca Pomeroy, a descendant of Joel 
(William) de la Pomeroy of Bery Pomeroy who married a 
daughter of King Henry I., ist sister of Reginald, Earl of 
Cornwall. Rebecca (Pomeroy) Drew outlived her husband 
many years, and with wonderful resolution protected herself 
at Mocollop Castle though surrounded by Irish enemies. She 
could use guns and pistols as dexterously as anybody and 
always kept them loaded in her bedroom. Her powder-horn 
was extant a few years ago. She told James, the second 
Lord Chancellor, in his own court, that if she had him at 
Mocollop Castle she would have him coursed like a rabbit. 
She was a daughter of Samuel Pomeroy of Berie Pomeroy, 
in Devonshire, near Totnes." 
( From Burke's "Dictionary of Landed Gentry.") 

"The Irish branch (of the Drew family) resident for so 
many generations at Mocollop Castle, county Waterford, 
descends through the heiress of Pomeroy, from King Henry 
I." (She was a daughter of Samuel Pomeroy, a younger son.) 



52 ROMANCE AND HISTORY OF 



(From Camden's Britannia.) 

"Here (town of Totnes) British history makes Brutus 
of Troy, the founder of the Nation, to have landed, and 
Havilan the poet, following the tradition, sings in his 
Architrenius : 

"Hence Brutus and his friend Achates steered, 
When fraught with Gallic spoils their ships appeared; 
The Heavens and winds were all at their command, 
And happy Totnes welcomed them to land." 




Stye 3lnsurmtton in {femmalprf 



(From Mortimer's "Berry Pomeroy Castle.") 

"The Devon insurrection was in 1549. In this rebellion 
Sir Thomas Pomeroy was deeply concerned, and being the 
last of his family who occupied Berry Castle it is averred 
by some historians that he saved his life by making over the 
manor and Castle of Berry Pomeroy to Lord Protector, 
Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset. 

"Lyson says this estate came into possession of the 
Seymours by grant or purchase from the Crown, since at the 
time of the attainder of Sir Thomas, the Protector was in 
the Tower of London on a charge of treason, of which he was 
acquitted, but afterwards' being found guilty of felony was 
beheaded on Tower Hill, December, 1551. His brother. Sir 
Thomas Seymour, Lord Dudley, Lord High Admiral of 
England, was executed March 20, 1549. 

"The 1 2th Duke of Somerset, in 1875, writes to the 
Mortimers, authors of the work above quoted from, and says : 
"I can state that Berry Castle was purchased in the reign of 
Edward VI." 

An old engraving says: "Berry Castle was sold by Sir 
Thomas Pomeroy unto Ed Seymour, Duke of Somerset, in 
the time of Edward VI." 

(The painter of the picture, of which the engraving referred 
to here is a copy, was at the time in the employ of Ed Seymour 
and painted the picture to his order; he was also directed to paint 
in the words of the legend just quoted to make it appear that Berry 
Pomeroy Manor was acquired by purchase. — A. A. P.) 

('From "The Battle Abbey Roll," vol. 3, by the Duchess of 

Cleveland, 1889.) 

"The Castle and Honour of Berry Pomeroy in Devonshire, 
which had been purchased by the Protector, was restored 
in blood by Edward VI., the year after his (Seymour's) 
father's execution." 
(From the same authority, p. 11.) 

"Sir Thomas Pomeroy is described as a 'simiple gente,' 
and his life was perhaps spared on account of his feeble 
intellect, but no mercy was shown to his estate. After a 



54 ROMANCE AND HISTORY OF 

short struggle he was forced to relinquish the stately home 
that had been the head of the house since the days of the 
Conqueror, and Berry Pomeroy was sold to the Seymours." 

(This statement or surmise that Sir Thomas Pomeroy's 
mentality was impaired at this time or later should not be taken 
seriously. On the contrary, not many years previous to this insur- 
rection he had attended Henry VIII. in his wars in France, and 
displayed sufficient force of character and good fortune in arms 
to attract the attention and confidence of that war-like monarch. 
However, his action during the insurrection in Devon was not the 
method or policy of a time-server which a prudent and ambitious 
man like the Seymour would follow, but that of one whose 
sympathies were with his people, and who did not hesitate or 
stop to reckon the cost, which is but a characteristic strongly 
developed in the American Pomeroys — men, women and children. — 
A. A. P.) 

(The following extract from a history of the action at Exeter 
is in full accord with the above personal assertion:) 
"St. Mary's Clist, four miles from Exeter, was one of 
the chief scenes of the rebellion in Devonshire, w r hich happened 
in 1549, in the month of June, when the insurgents laid siege 
to Exeter. In August they were attacked by the King's 
army under Lord Russell. By a stratagem of Sir Thomas de 
Pomeroy, one of the chief Captains of the insurgents, they 
obtained a temporary victory, and the wagons belonging to 
the King's army, ammunition, treasure, etc., fell into the hands 
of Sir Thomas Pomeroy; but Lord Russell rallied his troops, 
returned to the attack, and defeated his enemy with great 
slaughter." 

Lyson says : "Sir Thomas is said to have saved his life 
by making over the manor and Castle of Berry Pomeroy to 
the Protector, the Duke of Somerset." 

(That statement does not imply that Sir Thomas was 
demented; nor does it convey the sense that Edward Seymour 
purchased the Castle and esta f 3. — A. A. P.) 

(From Froude's "England," vol. 5, p. 181.) 

"1549. In the West (of Devon) the insurrection had 
affected a higher grade. Sir Thomas Pomeroy and Sir 
Humphrey Arundel of the North of Devon, and other men 
of weight and property, had 20,000 men under the banner of 
the cross," "Arundel was Governor of St. Michael's Mount. 
He and three others were hanged at Tyburn." 



ELTWEED POMEROY'S ANCESTORS 55 



fjaat ^trge of % dastlr 

(From the "Guide Book of Berry Pomeroy Castle.") 

"The Pomeroys, as descendants of the Feudal Barons, 
having for centuries enjoyed within their extensive domains 
a power almost equal to that of the Crown, they could ill 
restrain that imperative authority which for generations they 
had assumed as a primogenial right, and which was ever 
recognized as such by the ruling monarchs. At the order 
then for dismantling the castles of England, the inheritors 
of Castle de Pomeroy, tradition affirms, resisted the royal 
mandates. A siege was commenced in consequence by the 
forces of King Edward VI. (1549), which was long, obstin- 
ately, and with bravery withstood by those feudal Princes 
of the Castle, Sir Thomas de Pomeroy and his kinsmen with 
their numerous retinue. Spurred on by the most determined 
resolution to live or die free men, rather than, as they 
imagined, basely survive the loss of those long-enjoyed 
honors which were now by the arm of tyranny to be wrested 
from them, they so incensed the king by their temerity that 
he forthwith issued most peremptory orders for their 
subjugation. Mudi time as well as blood and treasure were 
consumed in front of the walls of the Castle of Berry Pomeroy 
ere this strong and stately fortress ceased to shelter its 
valiant defenders ; inside their almost impregnable fortress 
were the besieged, protected by its turreted and castelated 
walls, while the besiegers, exposed to the constant showers of 
destructive missiles, fell on all sides, till the slaughter among 
the King's soldiers was appalling. At length, however, either 
by force, stratagem or treason, the Castle was carried. The 
two brave de Pomeroys, rather than survive their lost or faded 
glories, rather than submit to do homage to an incensed mon- 
arch, blindfolded their horses and mounting spurred them to 
the northern precipice on which the Castle stands, which but 
to look from might appal the stoutest heart. The terrified 
animals, as if conscious of their own and their riders' impend- 
ing fate, plunged and resisted till madly and desperately urged 
over the fatal steep, they with their lordly and proud masters, 
were by one wild leap instantly dashed to death. 



56 ROMANCE AND HISTORY OF 



"The English poet Keats has inscribed the tribute 
contained in these lines to the defenders of the Castle of Berry 
Pomeroy : 

"Hark! heard you not those shouts of dreadful note? 

Sounds not the conflict on the heath? 
Saw ye not where the reeking sabre smote; 

Nor saved your brethren ere they sank beneath 
Tyrants and tyrants' slaves? The fires of death, 

The bale-fires flash on high; from rock to rock 
Each volley tells that thousands cease to breathe; 



* 



GDrnjpatum at Sfrrrtf -pompniB (Easile by % grgnumrB 

Historians differ widely as to the manner in which the 
Seymours succeeded the Pomeroys in the ownership of this 
ancient domain, but in order to correct any erroneous impres- 
sions we here furnish the written testimony of the late 12th 
Duke of Somerset, who in a letter from Stover, Devon, under 
the date of January 5, 1875, said: "I can state that Berry 
Pomeroy Castle was purchased in the reign of Edward VI." 
And in corroboration of this statement we copy the following 
from an old engraving representing the south view of Berry 
Pomeroy Castle and dedicated to Sir Edward de Seymour 
of Maiden Bradley, in the county of Wilts, Bart., by Saml. 
and Nathl. Buck : 

'This Castle was built by Sir Ralph de Pomeroy, in the 
Conqueror's time, and was the head Barony of his Family; 
his Posterity continued many descents there, till the time of 
King Edward VI., when it was sold by Sir Thomas de Pom- 
eroy unto Ed. Seymour, Duke of Somerset, who settled this 
manor with several others on his issue by his first Lady 
Catherine, daughter and co-heir to Sir Um. Filliot of Wood- 
land, from whom the present Sir Edward is directly descended. 
— S. & N. Buck, Delin, et Sculp., 1734." 

In the civil wars between Charles I. and Parliament the 
Castle was dismantled, thus denuding it of its once stately 
power, but it was occupied in magnificent state until the 



ELTWEED POMEROY'S ANCESTORS 57 



reign of James II. (1685) by Eel. Seymour, who headed a 
rising against that monarch, and was at that period styled 
the haughty and magnificent leader of the country party. 

From the time of this Seymour's decease the mansion 
seems to have fallen into decay, and tradition ascribes its 
destruction to a terrible thunder storm, when it was set 
on fire by the scathing lightning; while another reason 
declares that the Castle was taken in the time of Charles I., 
carried by great guns planted on the hills opposite the 
precipice. The latter story of its having been stormed by 
artillery sufficiently accounts, says Mr. Bray, for this side 
being more battered than any other part of the building, 
various circumstances existing likewise to render the 
statement more than probable. 

Note — The evidence offered by the writer as to the reversion 
of the Castle and Manor of Berry Pomeroy to the Seymours is very 
meagre and not substantiated, especially as it is an effort to 
controvert history. During the minority of Edward VI. he was 
doubtless the King, but his uncle, Edward Seymour, reigned. And 
it was at this time that the transfer of ownership was consummated. 
St. Maur (or Seymour), who was a companion-in-arms with Sir 
Rolf de Pomeroy at the battle of Hastings, had failed to receive 
the commendation of Duke William, and was envious of the great 
favors bestowed upon Sir Ralph. Seymour evidently transmitted 
his hatred to his posterity, and when the opportunity that power 
would give them had arrived they acted without compunction upon 
the determination to possess themselves of the manor of Berry 
Pomeroy. The only consideration that Sir Thomas de Pomeroy re- 
ceived for being despoiled of his estates through the conspiracy was 
a life interest as tenant in a small holding called Will, in Stoke 
Gabriel. The testimony offered by Saml. and Nathl. Buck is 
equally unsatisfactory. 



JruttlPBs attempt of tl)£ £>?ymmtrs tn ISrronatntrt 

t\)t (&vmt (Easth? 

The Castle dates back to the Norman conquest, being 
erected by Ralph de Pomeroy. Tradition says there was 
found on the estate in Normandy a peculiarly sweet and 
juicy apple, from which the estate was called "Royal Apple," 
or "Pommeroye." In those days men took their names from 
their estate, hence Rolf of King Apple, or Ralph de Pomeroy. 



58 ROMANCE AND HISTORY OF 

The general characteristics of this family are strong attachment 
to the principles of civil and religious liberty, and the social 
virtues ; great moral and physical courage ; and seldom can one 
be found that is not given to generous hospitality. The 
Castle is approached through charming woods, its ivy- 
mantled ruins form one of the most picturesque scenes in the 
west of England. Over the gate there is a coat of arms, 
presumably that of the Pomeroys. During the reign of 
Edward VI. the fortress and manor were confiscated and 
passed into the hands of the Duke of Somerset, and have 
remained in the hands of that family up to the present time. 
After they acquired it there were extensive structural alter- 
ations, and Mr. Prince, the Devon historian, who was for over 
forty years Vicar of Berry Pomeroy, states in his book. 
"Worthies of Devon," that a sum of £20.000 was spent in 
the work. All that remains today is a magnificent ruin, 
whose crumbling walls tell an eloquent tale of the glories 
of the House of Pomeroy of the past. 

It has been affirmed that rather than obey the mandate 
of the King to dismantle the Castle, the two last of the 
Pomeroys present, when compelled to retreat before the 
royal forces, blindfolded their horses and rode them over the 
precipice on the northern side ; but this tradition probably 
owes its origin to the creative genius of some writer of the 
past. It was not until the civil war that the Castle was 
dismantled, and the last of the Seymours to occupy it as a 
residence was Edward, during the reign of James II. 

The coat armour referred to above portrays a lion in the 
field rampant, a lion segant holding up an apple by the stem 
in his dexter paw. The motto of the Pomeroys was: 
"Virtutis fortuna comes," or "Good fortune is the companion 
of virtue or courage." 

Heairir? IJnutfroy of $fath?r l^tahin} 

(From the Domesday Book.) 

To the genealogist the Exeter text (Exon Domesday 
Book), History of Somerset, Victoria Histories, vol. 1, 430. 
is a record of the greatest value; for it enables us at times 
to identify those of whom the Exchequer text gives us but 
the Christian names. 



ELTWEED POMEROY'S ANCESTORS 59 



"Again, the Beatrice* who holds of Ralf de Pomerei at 
Nether Stowey is entered in the Exeter book as Ralph's sister. 
Mr. Eyton points out that she also held of him a Devon 
manor; while she held further in that county two manors 
of William Capra, who is similarly entered as her brother. 
On the strength of this he asserted that Ralph and William 
de Pomerei were brothers (Somerset Domesday, vol. I, p. 64), 
and although this may seem not absolutely clear, it is inter- 
esting to note that Roger Capra and William his son were 
benefactors in the next generation to the Pommeraye Abbey 
of St. Marv du Val. — (Calendar of Documents, France, page 

536.) 

"Ralph, though of small account in Somerset, was a great 
man across the western border. Coming as his name reminds 
us from among the apple orchards of Normandy, to make 
his home among those of Devon, he left his Castle de la 
Pommeraye, to gain a mightier lordship, and to found that 
rock fortress in the heart of the English woodlands Which 
still preserves his name in that of Berry Pomeroy. 

"Ralph de Pomerei held Stawei (Nether Stowey), and 
Beatrice, his sister, holds of him. Ralph himself holds Are 
(Oare)." 



ultj* lExfent of % jtomrrou, fEalate in irfumafpr? 

(From "History of Devonshire," Domesday Survey, page 386, 

Victoria History, vol. 1.) 

"In the case of Berry Pomeroy, four plough-lands, or 
lands for one plough, are represented in 1292, by 16x16 or 
256 acres, i. e., 64 acres to the plough-land. The cultivated 
area of Stockleigh Pomeroy was, again, 350 acres in 1292. 

"The estate of Ralph de Pomeroy with additions and 
exceptions, went to form the 'honour' of Berry; those of 
William, his brother, better known as William Capra, the 
'honour' of Braneyes or Branhinch. In all he owned 45,000 
acres." — See History of Devonshire, pp. 392, 560-3. 



♦Probably the wife or widow of his brother. 



60 ROMANCE AND HISTORY OF 



Bomt (Eflttttprttous with, SotjaUu. 

(From the "Kings, Earls and True Nobility of England." In 

possession of George Eltweed Pomeroy, of Toledo, Ohio.) 

"Joane (called Ioane of the Tower) married David le 

Brufe, King of Scotland; she was a sister of Reginald, Earl 

of Guelders. 

"Avis, daughter of Reginald, Earl of Cornwall, married 
Richard de Rivers, son of Baldwin, Earl of Devonshire. 

"Beatrice (?), daughter of Henry I., sister of Reginald, 
Earl of Cornwall, married Sir William Pomeroy, and in 1080 
the whole manor of Alverton, Penzance, passed from the 
Earls of Cornwall to the Pomeroys. 

("Reginald was son of King Henry I. Sir Henry Pom- 
eroy was grandson to King Henry I. and half-brother to 
King Richard I. and John his brother; his son Henry was 
cousin in the third degree of the Kings Edward I. and II., 
of the house of Plantagenet") 



lExtrarts from iEtujUslj Aitthnrtttrs 

(From "Notes and Queries," 4th Series, vol. 2, p. 226; 1868, 

July to December.) 

"The direct descendants of Sir Thomas Pomeroy who sold 
Berry Pomeroy to the Lord Protector Somerset, continued at 
Sandridge, when Gilbert Pomeroy of Sandridge, whose will 
was proved April 8, 1719, died, leaving all his lands to his 
kinsman, Daniel Pomeroy, son of Paul Pomeroy of Brixham, 
Devon, which is S. E. of Totnes, N. E. of Dartmouth." 
("Notes and Queries," 6th Series, vol. 2, pp. 328, 493; 1880, 

July to December.) 

"Richard Pomeroy of Bowden, Yealmton, Devon, married 
Eleanor Cooke of Mapowden. He and two sons were living 
in 1531. His son Henry Pomeroy married Agnes, daughter 
and heiress of William Huckmore, and widow of Edward 
Harris; they had a daughter who married Sir Thomas Harris 
of Kent. 

'The Drews of Drewcliffe quartered both Huckmore and 
Pomeroy through a match with the Irish branch of the 
Pomeroys." 



ELTWEED POMEROY'S ANCESTORS 61 



(From "The Battle Abbey Roll," vol. 3, by the Duchess of 

Cleveland, 1889.) 

Page 10. "Two of the name, Hugue and Raoul de la 
Pomerie, are in the Dives Roll. Of Hugh I can find no men- 
tion in Dugdale, but Ralph appears in Domesday, holding 60 
manors in capite, all with two exceptions in Devonshire." 

"William Pomeroy, who succeeded Ralph, had a younger 
son named Ethelward, who founded Buckfast Abbey in the 
time of Henry I., and whose name suggests an alliance with 
some Saxon house." 

A local legend at Berry Pomeroy concerning Henry de 
la Pomeroy asserts that he never left Berry Pomeroy, and that 
when the King's pursuivant came to arrest him he mounted 
his horse and leaped from the battlements into the valley 
below. 

"Out over the cliffe, out into the night, 

Three hundred feet of fall; 

They found him next morning below in the glen, 

With never a bone in him whole; 

A mass and a prayer, good gentlemen, all, 

For such a bold rider's soul." 

"The wishing tree of Berry Pomeroy is the prettiest 
superstition of the place, and is the only one left in England. 
It is a lofty, wide-spreading beech. The wisher is to walk 
three times around the tree with the sun, and three times 
backward, thinking of the wish that must be unspoken and 
unknown to any one. The wish will come true." 
(From Jewett's "Story of the Normans," Putnam, 1887.) 

"There are Saxon landlords and farmers and statesmen in 
England yet unconquered, unpersuaded and un-Normanized." 
(From the "Norman People," London, 1874; no author named, 

p. 366.) 

"The Pomerais were Castillians of La Pomerai, in 
Normandy. Ralph de la Pomeroy held 51 lordships in 
barony of Devon, 1086 (see Dugdale and Banks)." 

In Planche's "Conqueror and His Companions," vide 
passages concerning the perpetuation of Norman names in 
England, and the relative number of Norman peerages and 
titles. 



62 ROMANCE AND HISTORY OF 



(From Hoveden, vol. 2, pp. 134-5.) 

"In 1 177 King Henry II. (1154-1189) gave the kingdom 
of Limerick to Joslan de la Pomerai and others, which they 
all refused." 

(J bid, vol. 3, pp. 238-249.) 

"'Johannes de la Pomerai abjures the realm, April 18, 
1 194, and goes into exile." 

Henry de la Pomerai fortifies St. Michael's Mount, 
Cornwall, and dies of bleeding; temp., Richard I. (1189-1199) ; 
Feb., 1 194, date of death. 
(From Grose's "England and Wales," vol. 2, pp. 64-65.) 

"Ford Abbey, 5 miles N. E. of Axminster, Devon, was 
built by Richard de Brioni, grand-nephew of William I., 
1133-1136." 

"John Courtney (temp. Henry II.) added to the Abbey 
lands bought of Galfredus Pomerie for 50 marks." 

"Jocelin Pomerie by deed conveyed all his town of Thale 
to the monks of Ford. This deed was confirmed by his 
successor, John Pomerie. Richard I., in the 1st year of his 
reign, confirmed all donations made to this monastery." 
t Extract from the title Harberton, Castle Carberry, county 

Kildare, Ireland, in Sharpe's "Peerage of the British 

Empire.") 

"The Pomeroy descendants are, however, recorded in 
the county Devon, as late as the beginning of the 18th 
century ; but from a branch seat at Engsden, time of James I." 
(Then follow a few lines concerning the Rev. Arthur 
Pomeroy, founder of the Irish branch.) 
(From the Hartford (Conn.) Times.) 

"Crewkerne is a very ancient place and some camp of 
the Romans existed there. Coins of Trajan, Pius, Gallienus, 
Constantine II., one eadh were found there. A hoard of 
about 130 third brass' of the time of Constantine I., 
Lycinius and Crispus, was found there in 1872, just north 
of the Combe farm. These will be recognized as names of 
the latest and weakest Roman emperors, at the time of the 
Roman occupancy of England. 

"In the Doomsday survey of Dorsetshire there is a 
Ralfe de Pomereis who held the manor of Oare. in the wild 
northwest part of the county. Tie held it of Edric and owed 
twelve sheep a year for it." 



ELTWEED POMEROY'S ANCESTORS 63 



(It is suggested that the committee on the English investiga- 
tion make diligent search for records of the families of Ralfe de 
Fomereis and St. Cleer Pomeroy in Dorsetshire, the county which 
contains the record of Eltweed Pomeroy's birth and marriage. — 
A. A. P.) 

"Alice de Vere, whom Sir Henry de Pomeroy married 
about 1200, was of the family of the Earl of Guisness, in 
Normandy, son of Aubrey, High Chamberlain for England 
during the reign of Henry I. His son Aubrey was the first 
Earl of Oxford." 
(From Burke's "Landed Gentry.") 

"Thomas Aleigli, alias Leigh, or Lee, of Weeke, St. Mary, 
in county Cornwall, descended from Leigh of High Leigh in 
the county Cheshire, and lived in the tyme of Henry VI. 

"Humphrey Aleigh, alias Leigh, of Leigh in Cornewall. 
married a dau. of Selman. 

"William Aleigh, alias Leigh, sonne and heire of Leigh 
in county Cornewall, married Mary, daughter of Andrew 
Pomeroy, of Newton Ferrers, county Devon, Esq. 

"William Leigh, of Leigh in county Cornewall, sonne and 
heire of Andrew Pomeroy, living A. D. 1620, married Eliza- 
beth, dau. of Wymond Searle of Anthonie in county Corne- 
wall. Their children were Tomasin, John, Andrew, Eliacon." 
(From "Camden Soc," vol. 69; by Larking.) 

"Henry de Pomerai is cited as a considerable benefactor 
in 1338 to the preceptory of the 'Knights Hospitallers of St. 
John of Jerusalem,' of Treligh, Cornwall." 
(From "Collins' Peerage," vol. 5, p. 319.) 

"Sir Thomas Pomeroy of Sandridge, Devon, married 
Jane, daughter of Sir Piers Edgecombe." 
(From the introduction to Mrs. Bray's novel, "Henry de 

Pomeroy," London, 1846.) 

"When Henry VII. ascended the throne he took the 
Castle of Berry Pomeroy from Baron la Zouch on account 
of his having espoused the cause of Richard III., and 
bestowed it on Sir Pierre Edgecombe, who had rendered 
him such essential service when he was Earl of Richmond." 

(Sir Pierre, or Piers, Edgecombe was either the father or 
grandfather of Jane, whom Sir Thomas Pomeroy married, and the 
Dame Jane referred to in the grant of Ed. Seymour after he had 
acquired the Manor and Castle of Berry Pomeroy. The grant 



64 ROMANCE AND HISTORY OF 



mentioned was a tenement called Will, in Stoke Gabriel, to hold 
for the term of their lives. The similarity of the name "Pierre" 
and "Piers" causes the doubt. — A. A. P.) 

(See "Penny Cyclopedia/' for Berry or Bury Pomeroy. 
Also, see "Fraser's Magazine," Nov., 1855, "Talk on Devon 
Worthies.") 

Here is recounted the Romantic story of Henry de la 
Pomeroy, elsewhere cited in these pages. One extract, 
aliunde, we make: "In Darlington Hall the christening of 
the infant Lord John Holland was celebrated many years 
ago. On that occasion the infant noble was carried from the 
hall to the church in the arms of the god-mother, the Lady 
Pomerai, whose husband walked on one side and Sir John 
Durham on the other." 
(From Mortimer's "Berry Pomeroy Castle," Totnes, Devon.) 

"The ancient manor of Beri (Berry), which in the time 
of Edward the Confessor, 1042-1066, belonged to Alricus the 
Saxon, was bestowed by William the Conqueror on Ralph 
de Pomeroy, who had rendered him much valuable assistance 
in his successful invasion of this country in 1066, that he 
received from him no fewer than fifty-eight Lordships in 
Devonshire as a reward for his services. Ralph de Pomeroy 
then erected the celebrated stronghold that now bears the 
family name of Berry Pomeroy Castle." 

The insurrection in Devonshire was suppressed by Lord 
Russell, Earl of Bedford. — (See Froude, vol. 5, Hume Ch. 
xxxv ; vol. 3). It was directed against t'he Reformation as 
carried out by the Lord Protector, Somerset. — (See Tytler.) 

In Doyle's "Official Baronetcy," vol. 3, p. 363, it is stated 
that Edward Adolpnus Seymour II., who succeeded as 12th 
Duke of Somerset in 1855, is Earl of St. Maur of Berry 
Pomeroy, created in 1863. 



(From "Notes and Queries," 1st Series, vol. 3, p. 303, 1851, 

January to June. 

"Rev. Arthur Pomeroy, born 1623, Dean of Cork in 
1672, was a fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, A. B., 



ELTWEED POMEROY'S ANCESTORS 65 



1660; M. A., 1664; S. T. D., 1676, and is said to have sprung 
from the Pomeroys of Ingeden, in Devon." — (See Lodge's 
"Peerage of Ireland," article, "Harberton.") 
(From "Notes and Queries," 3d Series, vol. 3, pp. 196 and 231 ; 

1863, January to June.) 

"Archdeacon John Pomeroy of Cork, by will dated Sept., 
1724, bequeathed £100 to a charity school and £50 in books. 
The library in 1863 consisted of 2,000 volumes." 

Moore, in his "History of Devon," states on the authority 
of Polwhele that Sir Thomas Pomeroy, though the principal 
of the rebels, found the means of making his peace, although 
at a great sacrifice. Sir Thomas compounded for his life by 
yielding up his lands and Castle of Berry to the Lord Pro- 
tector, Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset. — (See Lodge's 
"Peerage," also, Tyson's "Devon.") 
(From "Notes and Queries," 3d Series, vol. 4, pp. 128, 23S, 

475; 1863, July to Dec.) 

It is asked, who was the father of Thomas Pomeroy, 
gent, of Trethynyk, St. Earney, Cornwall, who, in 1598, 
married Mary Geffrey, widow. 

It is suggested that Thomas Pomeroy of Enges(r)den 
was the father. The mother was a Hurgscott. 

"Henry de Pomeroy, Lord of the Castle of Trematon, 
Cornwall, by deed in 1339 (12th of Edward III.), released 
to Prince Edward, Duke of Cornwall, all his right, title and 
interest in said castle. An annuity of £40 a year was paid 
by the Prince." 
(From "Notes and Queries," 3d Series, vol, 5, p. 424; 1864, 

January to June.) 

Mention is made of Rev. Joseph Pomeroy, born 1749, 
Vicar of St. Kew in Cornwall, 1777, died 1837, wno prepared 
and placed in his churchyard his coffin some years before 
his death. 
(From page 285 "Worthies of Devon," Capt. John Davies.) 

"Sandridge, Devon, near Berry Pomeroy, became the 
inheritance of the ancient and honorable family of Berry 
Pomeroy, and most likely, at last, the portion of a younger 
son of Berry Castle, in the parish of Berry Pomeroy, about 
four miles from (it) ; though afterwards it yielded a strain 
for that ancient and noble house. For Sir Henry (John) de la 



66 ROMANCE AND HISTORY OF 



Pommeraye of Berry Pomeroy, having no heirs, settled his 
lands (about 1404) upon Sir Thomas of Sandridge aforesaid, 
who had married Joan, daughter of Sir James Chudleigh, 
Kt., by his wife Joan Pomeroy, sister of the said Sir Henry 
(John). 

"Sandridge still remains in this honorable name, and is 
at this time (1701) the dwelling of Roger Pomeroy, Esq., 
the topmost branch of this ancient stock." 



^Fragmentary (jtontaiums 

(From the "Worthies of Devon," p. 645.) 

"This family was not only very noble in its original, 
but in its alliances, matching once with the blood royal, and 
several times with the daughters of the principal peers of the 
realm. Here (Berry Pomeroy) this great progeny had their 
dwelling from the Norman Conquest to the days of King 
Edward VI., about 500 years." 

(Same, p. 647.) 

"This stock, though eminent on several other accounts, 
was for nothing more illustrious than for the works of piety 
it yielded, according to the devotion of those times. They 
endowed abbeys, monasteries, nunneries, etc." 

Book of Family Crests and Fairbairns' "Family Crests" 
contains six or more plates of Pomeroy Arms. 

(In "Beauties of England and Wales," vol. x, 1801, pp. 
463-470, there is the history of St. Michael's Mount and its 
capture.) 

In vol. 1 it is stated that Sir Ralph de la Pomeroy was 
rewarded by the Conqueror with 58 lordships in Devon, and 
that in the reign of Edward VI., Sir Thomas Pomeroy sold 
the manor to Sir Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset, whose 
descendants still hold it. 

Mrs. Henry Wood's novel, "Pomeroy Abbey," or under 
another title, "The Haunted Tower," is pure fiction and of 
modern date. The novel is in the Argosy, vols. 25 and 26, 
1878. 

Sir William Pole flourished in the reign of Elizabeth and 
James I. ; died in 1635. 



ELTWEED POMEROY'S ANCESTORS 67 

(From Camden's "Britannia," (Ed. 1695) page 28.) 

"Just by this town (Totnes) stands Bery Pomeroy, 
denominated from the Pomeries, one of the noblest families 
in these parts, who, somewhat further to the eastward had 
a very neat castle, Bery Castle, a little further off from the 
bank. They derive their pedigree from Rudolph de Pomeray, 
who in William the Conqueror's time held Wich, Dunwines- 
don, Brawendine, Pudeford, Horewood, Toriland, Helicom 
and this Berie ; also Tragony in Cornwall." 
(From Brewers " Beauties of Ireland," vol. 2, p. 64.) 

"Castle Carberry is of very old date. In the early part 
of the 14th century it was the embattled residence of the 
Be(i)rminghams. In the reign of Elizabeth the castle 
belonged to Sir Henry Colley, or Cowley, ancestor of the 
Duke of Wellington, whose descendants (Colley) resided 
here for many generations. Mary, the daughter of Henry 
Colley, Esq., married, in 1747, Arthur Pomeroy, subsequently 
created Lord Harburton of Carberry. Newberry, the seat 
of Lord Harberton, is near Castle Carberry, and is a spacious 
and handsome residence." 

"Lord Harberton is Lord of the Manor of Castle Carberry 
and Patron of one living." — (Foster's "Pedigree," 1881.) 
(From Flower's "Patronymica Britannica.") 

"Pomeray, from Parish St. Sauveur de la Pommeraye, 
in Province of La Manche, in Normandy, gave name to a 
great family mentioned in Domesday Book, Berry Pomeroy, 
in Devon : Ralph de Pomerei had 58 lordships in Devon and 
Somerset." 

"The name is in Holinshed's and in Stow's "Roll of 
Battel Abbey," cited in 3d vol. of Fuller's "Church History." 
1 From Collins' "English Peerage," vol. 5.) 

"The will of Sir Thomas Pomeroy*, made 27th of Henry 
III., died 31st of Henry III., 1247, leaves Richard, son and 
heir, aet. 40." 

"Vol. 6. The will of Th. Bridges, died 1542, left the 



♦Doubtless of a younger branch of the family, for at this time 
Sir Henry was in possession of the Manor of Berry Pomeroy; and 
without doubt ancestor of Sir Thomas, who married his cousin, 
Joan Chidley St. Aubin Brian, granddaughter of Sir John Pomeroy 
of the 11th generation; and of the Dorset family. 



68 ROMANCE AND HISTORY OF 



Lordship of Chudleigh Common in Devon to his son. The 
estate was then in possession of Sir Thomas de Pomeroy." 
(From "Harleian Society," vol. 6.) 

"Richard Pomeroy married (second) daughter of John 
Coke." 
(From Thorn's "Directory of 1885," p. 724.) 

"Viscount Harberton. County Kildare, 5167 acres; 
valuation, £3,658." 
(From Burke's "Peerage," p. 515.) 

"Rev. Arthur Pomeroy, born 1623, was in 1672 Chaplain 
to Capel, Earl of Essex, Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, and 
afterward Dean of Cork. The first peer, his grandson, also 
Rev. Arthur Pomeroy, was made Baron Harberton of Car- 
berry, in 1783. and Viscount, in 1790. He married Colley of 
Carberry, niece of Lord Mornington." 

James Spencer Harberton is 6th and present Viscount, 
born 1836; married 1881. — (See Foster's "Peerage, etc.," 
1881, for full line of Harberton.) 

The Harberton crest is the lion and apple. 
The Berry Pomeroy estate was forfeited, as some say. 
by the treason and execution of Sir Thomas Pomeroy, in the 
1st year of Edward VI., 1547-8, and was bestowed on Lord 
Protector Somerset, a Seymour and Hertford. The Earl of 
Hertford was Edward Seymour, brother of Jane, 3d wife 
of Henry VIII. He was afterward Lord-Protector Somerset. 
His grandson married Lady Arabella Stuart. Somerset was 
executed in 1552. His brother, Lord High Admiral, Thomas 
Seymour, went to the block in 1549. The Lord Protector 
was ancestor of the present Duke. The Somerset estates 
were restored by Charles II. in 1660. 

Berry Pomeroy is 9 miles S. of W. from Torquay ; Stock- 
ley (leigh) Pomeroy is 8 miles N. of W. from Exeter. 

Berry Castle is a short distance east of Berry Pomeroy. 
(From the "Worthies of Devon," by Rev. John Prince, Vicar 
of Berry Pomeroy, p. 649.) 

"Berry Pomeroy, we are told by Sir William Pole, was 
sold by Sir Thomas Pomeroy to Edward Seymour, Duke of 
Somerset, who gave it to his eldest son, grandfather of 
Sir Edward Seymour, Bart., by whom it was possessed in 
his time. It still continues to be the property and occasional 
residence of the present Duke of Somerset. The beautifui 



ELTWEED POMEROY'S ANCESTORS 69 



scenery which surrounds the ruins of the ancient Castle 
attracts the notice and gratifies the curiosity of every traveler 
of taste. 

"The last of this name that possessed the Castle of Berry 
was Sir Thomas Pomeroy, Knight, a commander in the wars 
under King Henry VIII., in France. How he and his 
posterity came to be dispossessed thereof may be inquired 
elsewhere." — (i. e., not in the "Worthies of Devon.") 



QHf* ijarbnrttut Urattrlj tit dfrflattd 

(Extract from the New York Herald.) 

"The noble house of Harburton, a branch of the ancient 
House of Pomeroy in Devon, was created in 1791, temp. 
George III. James Spencer Pomeroy, Sixth Viscount 
Harburton, a peer of Ireland, is the head of the race of 
Pomeroy in Great Britain but the old stock has a number 
of representatives in America. The Harburton branch has 
been settled in Ireland ever since Arthur Pomeroy went from 
his ancestral home in Devonshire to Dublin as Chaplain to 
the Lord Lieutenant, the Earl of Essex, in 1672, dying as 
Dean of Cork. Lord Harburton is connected by ties of kin- 
ship with the Duke of Wellington, one of his ancestors, 
Henry Collev, having been a brother of the 1st Duke's 
father, Lord Mornington. The ill-fated British General, Sir 
George Pomeroy Colley, who was killed at Majuba Hill in 
the Boer war of a quarter of a century ago, was Lord Har- 
burton's first cousin. Lady Harburton was a Miss Frances 
Legge, Malone House, county Antrim, and was of the House 
of Legge, of which Lord Dartmouth is the chief. In 1783 
Arthur, a descendant of Chaplain Arthur Pomeroy, was 
ennobled with the title of Viscount, under the name of Baron 
Arthur Harburton of the Castle Carberry. Dying without 
issue, his brother, Sir John Pomeroy, a British General of the 
Revolution in the American Colonies, succeeded. His son 
Henry, who died recently, was his successor to the title." 
(From Burke's "Peerage.") 

Below is given the succession to the Harburton branch 
of the House of Pomeroy, an ancient and knightly family 
of Normandy : 



70 ROMANCE AND HISTORY OF 



i. Rev. Arthur Pomeroy, M. A., University of 
Cambridge. 

2. Henry Pomeroy, his son. 

3. Arthur James Pomeroy, successor to his brother. 

4. John Pomeroy, in holy orders, who succeeded his 
brother. 

George Pomeroy, born March 1, 1764. 

5. John James Pomeroy. 

6. James Spencer Pomeroy, Viscount Harburton and 
Baron of Carberry, county Kildare, Ireland : born 
November 23, 1836. 

Pomeroy, Hon. Ernest Arthur George, oldest son of 6th 
Viscount Harburton, 2d Lieutenant of 20th Hussars in 1890; 
Captain of 3d battalion and Royal Dublin Fnsileers, 1892-95. 

Pomeroy, John Arthur, oldest son of Reverend and Hon. 
Arthur Pomeroy, and grandson of 4th Viscount Harburton, 
married in 1869, Louise L. J. D., daughter of Gaitride Tipping 
of Rossferry, county Fermaugh ; Justice of the Peace of the 
counties Tyrone, Fermaugh, Donegal, etc. 

Pomeroy, Capt. Louis Ralph Legge, second son of 6th 
Viscount Harburton; born 1869; Captain of 6th Dragoon 
Guards from 1901. 

Pomeroy, Hon. Esther Caroline, daughter of 5th Viscount 
Harburton ; born 1835. 

Pomeroy, Colley, Edith Althea, Lady Pomeroy Colley, 
daughter of Lieutenant-General H. M. Hamilton, C. B., 
married 1878, Major-General Sir George Pomeroy-Pomeroy 
Colley. 

Ai Urstmmster Ahbnj 

(From the East'hampton Daily Hampshire.) 

"The Abbey, as you know, contains monuments to 
those who have contributed to the greatness of England ; 
and as we look about we find a monument bearing the 
following inscription : 

"'The Honorable Henry Pomeroy, 

the only Son of 

Viscount and Viscountess Harburton, 

who died at Brighthelmstone, 

in the County of Sussex, 

on the Tenth day of March, 1804.' 






ELTWEED POMEROY'S ANCESTORS 71 

"We reached Totnes on April 26, and the next day we 
spent several hours at Berry Pomeroy Castle. Ivy grows 
in profusion all over the Castle walls. We explored every 
nook and corner and there is 'but one impression, that of the 
grandeur and immensity of the ruins, beautiful, sad, majestic, 
awful ruins. We saw the dungeon where the Lady Matilda 
de Pomeroy is said to have been imprisoned by her sister 
Eleanor ; also, the spot where the last of the Pomeroys who 
inhabited the Castle at the time, rather than surrender to the 
King's troops, rode their horses over the precipice to death." 
— (H. B. P.) 
(From the Clerk of Westminster Abbey.) 

"The monument is of white marble. There is a shield 
on top, and the shield is the St. George's cross, the four 
quarters being charged with a lion rampant, in each supported 
by two wolves, but being only painted on the marble it is 
now much faded, so much so that one cannot now make out 
the crest nor supporters." 



"In the visitation of Devon, page 107, under the Ford 
family, the pedigree begins with Thomas Pomeroy, father of 
Sir Edward Pomeroy of Berry Pomeroy, Knight, and of 
John Pomeroy; the latter had a son St. Cleer Pomeroy 
(named after the great Sinclair family of England and Nor- 
mandy, known as St. Clere, in Dorset)." Into this Pomeroy 
family married the Fords of Ashburton, Dorset, in several 
different instances. From this Ford family no doubt 
descended the Thomas Ford of Windsor, Conn., who left a 
widow. Two pedigrees can be found, on the 107th page 
of the Ford family. The "Sinclairs of England" has also 
considerable to say of the Ford intermarriages into that 
family. 



72 ROMANCE AND HISTORY OF 



®ljr Q'xmt-^axwttb Nam? of {tammnj 

(By Prof. W. P. W. Phillimore, M.A., B.L.C.) 

"The name of Pomeroy has long been a noted one in the 
West of England, that is to say, mainly in the two counties 
of Devon and Cornwall, which may be said to be the home of 
the race. To write the history of this family in a manner 
commensurate with its importance from the time of the. 
Norman Conquest down to the twentieth century would 
require a large volume, for they seem to have maintained a 
leading position in Devonshire, and sent out numerous off- 
shoots right into the new world. Bearing this fact in mind, 
and remembering that the surname of 'Pomeroy' is a dis- 
tinctive one, it might be thought that it would be a compar- 
atively simple matter to solve the problem presented to me 
by members of the family in America. 

"This in effect is to ascertain the origin and parentage 
of a certain Eltweed Pomeroy, who is stated to have emigrat- 
ed to America in the ship Mary and John, and to have landed 
at Dorchester in 1630. 

"The Pomeroys are still to be found in Devon and 
Cornwall, and though the name can hardly be described as 
a common one, still there is no doubt that they have been 
pretty widely spread out through the two counties, also 
extending into the neighboring shires. Thus our first investi- 
gation shows upward of forty places in Devonshire alone 
where people of the name have been settled, and in the local 
probate registry prior to 1852, there are preserved records 
of upward of fifty wills. These include some of the latest 
members of the ancient knightly family. 

' 'Eltweed' Pomeroy had a son 'Eldad' Pomeroy, another 
remarkable christian name, which naturally attracts atten- 
tion. The name Eldad is associated with Devonshire, though 
not so far as is known at present, with any individual. A 
correspondent. Mr. R. F. Pomeroy, of Gloucester, England, 
but belonging to a Cornish family, states that a church near 
Plymouth, Devonshire, where he formerly lived, is known 
as Eldad church, and it appears to have acquired its name 
from being situated in a road bearing that name. 

"The indexes to the wills proved in the probate registry 
at Exeter have been searched for the period during which 



ELTWEED POMEROY'S ANCESTORS 73 



we might expect to find some trace of the name of Eltweed 
Pomeroy. The proceedings in chancery for the reign of 
King James I. and Charles I. (1603-1649), have also been 
examined. This task is a very tedious one by reason of the 
character of the documents, often very long and intricate, 
and though it has given valuable information relative to the 
family generally, the enquiry proved negative so far as the 
name Eltweed is concerned until the church records at 
Crewkerne were examined by an American representative 
of the family, and a record of Eltweed's marriage discovered. 
"Other records have been examined. I may mention 
the Exeter marriage licenses to 163 1. Chancery proceedings 
temp. Elizabeth (1558-1602) ; signet bills and privy seals, 
1 584-163 1 ; London marriage licenses; lists of graduates and 
matriculations at Oxford and Cambridge Universities ; and a 
mass of valuable information accumulated for future use, 
which must have an equal interest to the bearers of this 
time-honored name." 

(While Prof. Phillimore's report was negative and without re- 
sult concerning the discovery of our American emigrant, which does 
not matter, it contained some valuable data which has materially 
assisted the analyst in finding other essential information bearing 
upon the problem. — A. A. P.) 

"St. Neat Vicarage. 

"The registers go back to 1549. There are frequent refer- 
ences to the Pomeroy family who resided here at one time. 
Baptism of son of John Pomeroy (Richard) in 1574." 

(This son was probably St. Cleer, known as St. Clere in Dorset, 
who would be 43 years old at the time his father's will was 
probated. — A. A. P.) 

UUla of (Eotttttteutt 

"4 Feb., 1629. 

"Of Valentyne Pomeroy of Sanderidge, Devon, Esq., 
against Sir John Whiddon and William Whiddon his son. 

"Recites treaty of marriage between Valentyne Pomeroy 
and Margaret Whiddon, a daughter of the Sir John Whiddon 
of Changford, Knight. The marriage took place in April, 
1628." 

"15 Nov., 1634. 



74 ROMANCE AND HISTORY OF 



"Of Valentyne Pomeroy of Sanderidge, Devon, Esq., 
against Dowing. 

"Relates to manorial rights of the manor of Waton, 
Stoke Gabriel ; mention made of Sir Thomas Pomeroy, grand- 
father, and Sir Edward Pomeroy, great-grandfather of 
Valentyne." 

"1595, Gloucestershire. 

'The Pomeroys had Tragoney Castle, but the registers 
prior to 1660-1 have been destroyed or lost." 

"Nov., 1637. 

"Of Valentyne Pomeroy of Sanderidge, Devon, Esq., 
against Sir Richard Buller, Robert Collyn, and others. 

"Recites that Richard Carew of Anthony, Cornwall, Esq.. 
devised premises in Saltash to Arthur Pomeroy, gent., on 
Dec. 1, 1605 ; that Athur Pomeroy died ten years ago without 
issue. Alleges that said premises ought to descend to Valen- 
tyne Pomeroy as cousin and heir of said Arthur Pomeroy, 
i. e., as son and heir of Thomas Pomeroy, Esq., deceased, 
the brother and next heir to said Arthur." 

"18 Nov., 1640. 

"Of Valentyne Pomeroy of Sanderidge, Devon, Esq.. 
against George Rowe. 

"Recites grant by Edward, Duke of Somerset, to Sir 
Thomas Pomeroy and Dame Jane his wife (dau. of Sir Perse 
or Pierre Edgecombe), grandmother and grandfather of 
Valentyne Pomeroy, of a tenement called Will, in Stoke 
Gabriel, to hold for the term of their lives : remainder to 
their son Thomas (Who mar, a dau. of Henry Rolle of 
Stephenton) : remainder to Arthur Pomeroy, the second son; 
with other remainders. Thomas Pomeroy was father of 
Valentyne (also, of Edward)." 

("Other remainders'' would imply that there were other 
children of Sir Thomas who were provided in this way with small 
holdings or tenements, and of these we find Richard and Joan. 
Arthur mar. and had a son Arthur, this second Arthur having no 

issue; Richard mar. Agnes , and had a number of children, 

among whom were Thomas, John, Edward and Henry, and three 
daughters. — A. A. P.) 

'27 April, 1642. 

"Of Valentyne Pomeroy of Sanderidge and Torrin of 
Stoke Gabriel, against Edward Lide, gent. 



ELTWEED POMEROY'S ANCESTORS 75 



"Relates to premises called Eglisford in Stoke Gabriel." 

(All of the tenements specified here had previously and for 
many years formed the patrimony of the younger sons of the 
house of Pomeroy. — A. A. P.) 

"Date torn away, B. 71. 14. 

"Bill of complaint of Honour Pomeroy, dau. of Edward 
Pomeroy of Brixham, Devon, gent. 

"Recites that Thomas Pomeroy of Bingley, Devon, Esq., 
by will dated 29, 13 James I. (1616), appointed Valentyne 
Pomeroy, Esq., his first son and brother of the said Edward, 
as his executor. Testator bequeathed debts owing him to said 
Honour Pomeroy. Valentyne proved the will. Mention is 
made of Wilmot, wife of Edward Pomeroy and mother of 
Honour Pomeroy. 

"Complainant alleges that Valentyne Pomeroy has 
obtained possession of clivers securities and not accounted 
for them." 

"Undated. P. 73. (Probably about 1620.) 

"Replication of Thomas Pomeroy, Sr., against Mary 
Pomeroy and Thomas Pomeroy, two of the defendants. 
Thomas Pomeroy, the father, is deceased; his sons were 
Robert, Thomas and John. John was father of the defendant." 

"No date. B. 158. 93. (Document much decayed.) 

"Bill of complaint of John Boscawen of Tregathnan, 
Cornwall, and John Rolle of London, gent., and John Haweis 
of Kelliow, Cornwall, gent. 

"Relates to manor of Tregoney Pomeroy; mention made 
of Hugh Pomeroy, Esq." 

"Undated. P. 12. 5. 

"Answer of Radford Wilde and Grace his wife to bill of 
Thomas Pomeroy. Grace Wilde was the widow of Robert 
Pomeroy. 

"Answer of Mary Pomeroy and Thomas Pomeroy, son 
of John Pomeroy. Relates to a bond affecting the three 
brothers, Thomas, Robert and John." 



76 ROMANCE AND HISTORY OF 



Partial Spitump of Utraragra 

(Rev. M. II. Froher, St. Stephens Rectory, Launceston.) 

"We have a tablet in our church wall recording the 
names of John and Mary Pomeroy, date 1630. Also an entry 
in the book of the burial of their daughter Mary. Also an 
entry of the baptism of their daughter Dorothy, 1631. Also 
the marriage of Elizabeth Pomeroy in 1625 to Richard Fowler. 

'"There is a coat of arms on the Pomeroy tablet. John 
Pomeroy is styled 'gent.' " 
(Rev. W. Symonds of Forcester, Gloucestershire.) 

"The Pomeroys had Tragoney Castle, but the Tragoney 
registers prior to 1660-1 have been destroyed or lost." 
(Sir John MacLean of Clifton, Bristol, a well-known Cornish 

antiquary, writes :) 

"I have a very large number of extracts from Parish 
Registers in Devon and Cornwall relating to the name of 
Pomery and Pomeroy, including other documents. I have 
looked through my indices and have not found in any instance 
the christian name of Eltweed, Elwood. Eldad, or even 
Edward. 

"The registers of St. Neot, Cornwall, contain a great 
many entries of the name extending from 1545 downwards. 
Fowey also contains many entries and it occurs also in many 
other parishes." 
(Rev. H. L. Ventris, St. Colomb Rectory, Cornwall.) 

"The name Pomeroy occurs 47 times in our register. I 
have looked on the original register of baptisms from 1590 to 
1630 but cannot find the christian name you are in search of." 



Mfllfe tljr Barrinr ano Sllfofpu % <Smt-i>miiIj 

(By Dr. Hiram S. Pomeroy, written from Hotel Seymour, 

Totnes, England, 1907.) 

"The fact that Eltweed Pomeroy was a gun-smith proves 
absolutely nothing relative to his not being of descent from 
Rolfe de Pomeroy the warrior. In my studies and research 
I have found that it is one of the universal certainties for 
members of an ancient and knightly family, noble and even 
royal, to be submerged in the masses. This is true in 



ELTWEED POMEROY'S ANCESTORS 77 



many cases where there is no special reason for it other 
than the inexorable law of Dame Nature, that the masses 
must acquire numbers. But in the case at issue there were 
special and good reasons for it, namely : That the property 
of the family was confiscated by the Crown and bestowed 
on the Seymours ; and that the rank of peer of the realm 
was annulled by the Parliament. * Sir Thomas 

de Pomeroy stood by his faith, partly at least, because he 
very justly believed that justice and fair play to the com- 
moners was on that side as against the other, which was 
serving the ends of personal ambition and private greed. 

"We should be proud of Sir Thomas de Pomeroy, and 
glad that he took just the stand he did. In his time and 
place we would doubtless have done the same. But such 
action is expensive. The most expensive luxury one can 
purchase without loss of self-respect, is that of being right 
rather than to be with the King.. His poor neighbors and 
tenants whom he had tried to aid and defend were now 
helpless; nay, many of them maimed or dead; others in 
prison; some of them condemned to death. All this brings 
up a picture which I think has occurred to few of us, yet it 
is a true and just definition of Avhat actually happened to him 
and his. Would it then be any wonder if one of his grandsons 
or great-grandsons, or one of his nephews or grand-nephews 
became a good gun-smith? 

"Many a descendant of even a prouder house than ours 
has come to a less honorable career, and besides has had 
behind less than a tithe of the character and social position 
which our Eltweed possessed. I have studied the matter 
long and carefully in regard to 'internal evidence' and feel 
practically certain that Eltweed was a descendant of Rolfe. 
If you cannot feel that this is consistent, meditate on the 
humble beginnings of many of the forbears of the most noble 
families, and if that does not convince you turn to the hosts 
of their unworthy and obscure descendants. 

"In truth, it is not a matter of ancient warrior or of more 
modern gun-smith, the noble man is a product of character 
and war, self-respect in every-day life and gallantry in battle, 
and the wholesome pride that is born of either or both. It 
is a matter of sensitive regard for the things of human weal, 
which make for the harmony of this universe as the Creator 



78 ROMANCE AND HISTORY OF 



intended it should. It is a matter of the manhood that spells 
out duty to his fellow man, so that it shall be the result of 
mental and physical courage ; without fear to move a step 
ahead of his place and time ; to take that step, and with it 
the penalties and pains, which are always the heritage of 
the one who dares to lead. Such an one was our grandfather, 
such an one was our father, but above all and before all such 
an one our progenitor in America, in 1630, Eltweed Pomeroy." 



iEUhtwd :|totttpr0y tl|r Emigrant 

It is not necessary to assert that the force of character 
demonstrated by the men of the Pomeroy race in England 
has not deteriorated in any appreciable measure among the 
men who bear that name in America. Eltweed Pomeroy, 
the American emigrant, who came over in the ship "Mary 
and John,'' Capt. Squibb, in March, 1630, brought with him a 
wife and son Eldad. An impression has prevailed for many 
years that he was accompanied by one or more brothers ; that 
is not the case, however. 

When the initial action was taken to establish a town 
government in this country, Eltweed readily demonstrated the 
fact that he had been a man of affairs and that he was familiar 
with business methods, and at once took a leading place 
in the community at Dorchester, where the first town gov- 
ernment was organized. He was one of the proprietors in 
that plantation and had been chosen as chairman of the 
board of Selectmen, comprised of 12 of the more notable 
men in the little colony of what is now known as the 
Dorchester District of Boston. 

This town government was organized in August, 1633, 
and the first town meeting in the United States was held at 
the junction of Cottage and Pond streets, in that town, over 
which Eltweed Pomeroy presided, by virtue of his office 
as first selectman. In those days the governor of a colony 
or community had no more power than a selectman, but was 
of equal influence. 

It is also held with justice that this community over 
which Eltweed Pomeroy presided as chairman nf the board 
of selectmen established the first free public school in the 



ELTWEED POMEROY'S ANCESTORS 79 

country, although this school was in part endowed by the 
proprietors of Thompson's Island. However, Dorchester 
more completely supported its public schools in 1639 by 
general taxation than Boston does now. 

The congregation of the first church of the Dorchester 
(Mass.) colony held its initial service in June, 1630. The 
meeting house was on the corner of what is now East Cottage 
and Pleasant streets, Boston. It was built of logs, surrounded 
by palisades, and had a thatched roof; and a sentinel was 
kept on guard, so that it served as a place of refuge and 
defense against the Indians. On the first day of the week 
the colony held its meetings as a church ; on the second day 
of the week the town meetings were held. An extract from 
the "Outlook" (New York) says: 

"This Dorchester town meeting, the first in America, 
was the model of all the town meetings in New England, 
and the germ of our American commonwealths. Near by was 
soon established the first free school supported by general 
taxation in America." 

It can therefore readily be believed that Eltweed Pomeroy 
was a man of large influence in this new environment, and 
believed in fostering all enterprises tending to educate and 
elevate the colony. 

Authorities differ concerning the year Eltweed Pomeroy 
and a number of the colonists of Dorchester moved with their 
minister, the Rev. Mr. Wareham, to Windsor, on the Con- 
necticut river. It is probable, however, that it was in 
1636 that the migration took place, and the records contrm 
grants of land in that town in his favor in 1640. 

When Eltweed Pomeroy and his companions of the 
colony of Dorchester moved their effects to Windsor, they 
carried along the records of Dorchester, which they had 
prepared up to that date. Eltweed's name appears in the 
list of the proprietors of Windsor, but the first record of 
lands was not made until 1640. In 1644 he, as an experienced 
man, was appointed by order of the court, an inspector of 
linen and woolen yarn. 



80 ROMANCE AND HISTORY OF 

iExirarta from % IjtBtonj of lorrifeBtf r 

(From the Dorchester Town Records.) 

"An agreement by the whole consent and vote of the 
Plantation, made Monday, 8th day of October, 1633 : 

"Imprimus, it is ordered for the general good and well 
ordering of the affairs of the Plantation, there shall be every 
Monday before the Court by eight of the clock in the morn- 
ing; and be present upon the beating of the drum, a general 
meeting of the inhabitants of the Plantation, at the Meeting 
House, there to settle and set down such orders as may tend 
to the general good as aforesaid ; and every man to be bound 
thereby without gainsaying or resistance. It is also agreed 
that there shall be twelve men selected out of the company 
that may, or the greatest part of them, meet as aforesaid 
to determine as aforesaid, yet so as it is desired that the 
most of the Plantation will keep the meeting constantly, and 
all that are there although none of the twelve shall have a 
freer voice as any of the twelve, and that the greater vote, 
both of the twelve and the other, shall be of force and 
efficacy as aforesaid. 

"And it is likewise ordered that all things concluded as 
aforesaid shall stand in force and be obeyed until the next 
monthly meeting, and afterwards if it be not contradicted and 
otherwise ordered upon the said monthly meeting by the 
greatest number of those that are present as aforesaid. More- 
over, because the Court in in vacancy of 

this said meeting, to continue till the first Monday in the 
month. 

Mr. Johnson, 
Mr. Eltweed Pomeroy, 
Mr. Richards, 
John Pierce, 
George Hull, 
William Phelps, 
Thom. Ford. 



ELTWEED POMEROY'S ANCESTORS 81 



"The proportion which each man is to have of the Town's 
pasture and other lands accordingly to the same rule for 
division, for every one on this side of the river 

"The Maps of the Meadows beyond Naponset River 
....85. 

Eltweed Pomeroy, Ca. 

Eltweed Pomeroy, Proprietor in 1633 and first Selectman, 
removed to Windsor. 

Extract from New England Historical and Genealogical 
Register published by Xew England Historical and Genealog- 
ical Society, 1889: 

"ELTWEED — Ancestor of the American Pomeroys came 
to this country from Devonshire, England, in 
1630. Was in Dorchester, Mass., from 1633 to 
1635. In Dorchester he was called Eltwid. 
In Northampton, Eltwed Pumry. 

"He removed to Windsor, Conn., about 
1635 or lo 36- His first wife died in Windsor, 
Conn., July 5, 1635. Name not ascertained. 

"Second wife was Lydia, widow oi 
Thomas Parsons." 

"CHILDREN — Mary, died in Windsor. Dec. 19, 1640. 
John, died in Windsor, (?) 1647. 
Eldad, died in Northampton, Mass., May 22, 
1662. He gave his property (which was of 
small amount) to his betrothed, Susanna 
Cunlifte. Her parents were from Dorchester. 
Aledad. baptized Aug. 19, 1638. 
Caleb, baptized Alar., 1641, Alarried Heph- 
sibah Baker of Windsor (his descendants were 
numerous, many settled in Southampton). 
Alary 2d, baptized April 21, 1644, died young. 
Joshua, baptized Nov. 22, 1646, married 1st 
Elizabeth Lyman, 2d Abigail Cook. (He 
moved to Deerfield, Mass., [684.) 
Joseph, baptized June 20. [652. 

"Eltweed Pomeroy was brought from Windsor, Conn., to 
Northampton about 1670 or 1671 to be cared for in his old 
age by bis son Dean (Deacon) Medad. He died in 1073." 






errata: 

Page 14, 4th paragraph, 1st line, for gr-gr-grand father 
read grea t -grand father. 

Page 14, 4th paragraph, 4th line, for Sir John read Sir 
Henry. 

Page 14, 4th paragraph, 4th line, for 11th generation 
read loth. 

Page 30, 2nd paragraph, 2nd line, for Sir John read 
Sir Henry. 

Page 31, next to last paragraph, for Sir John read Sir 
Henry. ^ , , a ' 



LBFe '10 



Soman™ ana tSjtHtanj of 

Attrestara * * 

3n Nnrmanoo, ano fEnnlano 




c, 



